The air lubrication sector has no shortage of published energy savings percentages.
Too often, however, the wrong question gets asked. The issue is not necessarily that performance claims are inaccurate, but that the discussion is often framed around achieving the highest possible savings figure under a specific set of conditions.
Asking for the “best performance number” naturally focuses attention on a single operating condition or vessel rather than on how a system is expected to perform across the full range of real-world operating scenarios.
A more useful question is:
“How accurately can performance be predicted for my specific vessel operating under real-world conditions, and what does that mean in terms of projected and achievable payback?”
That distinction matters because air lubrication performance is heavily influenced by vessel-specific factors, including hull form, flat-of-bottom area, operating profile, draft condition, speed range, and vessel motions driven by environmental conditions.
A single percentage figure, removed from those variables, can quickly become misleading.
Alex Routledge, CEO of Armada Technologies, offers a simple analogy:
“What miles-per-gallon does this car achieve?
Given the opportunity, most manufacturers will quote the highest number they can legitimately support — possibly from a controlled highway test conducted on a warm day, with no passengers, flat roads, perfect tire pressure, and steady speeds.
The number itself may be technically valid, but it does not necessarily reflect what most drivers will experience in real-world traffic, hills, weather conditions, stop-start driving, or aggressive acceleration.”
The same challenge exists within air lubrication. Not all datasets are created equal, and accurately quantifying performance is difficult because ships operate in constantly changing conditions.
A large installed base can provide valuable operational insight, but it does not automatically create a comprehensive understanding of how a system will perform across different vessel types and operating profiles. This has increased industry focus on testing depth and performance prediction capability.
To better understand these relationships, Armada Technologies has undertaken a broad range of investigations into air lubrication behaviour, including:
- Full-scale cavitation tunnel testing (single pod)
- Model-scale towing tank testing across multiple hull types
- Full-scale pilot testing on a representative vessel operating in a representative trading pattern
- Full-scale single and multiphase CFD analysis
Many air lubrication developers have completed portions of this process. Far fewer have undertaken the full spectrum of simulated, model-scale, and full-scale investigations.
According to Routledge, the objective was never simply to generate a peak performance figure.
“The objective was to better understand the variables influencing performance and improve the accuracy of prediction across different operating conditions.”
As testing programmes expand and more operational data becomes available, predictive tools continue to improve.
Routledge explains:
“Performance prediction continues to evolve as the industry gains access to broader datasets, increased operational feedback, and more advanced modelling capabilities. As we continue to expand our testing programme and feed real-world operational data back into our predictive tools, confidence in those projections continues to strengthen. Importantly, we are prepared to stand behind the performance figures we provide to customers, which reflects the confidence we have in both the technology and the engineering methodologies supporting it.”
This understanding changes how performance discussions are approached. Rather than focusing solely on best-case savings figures, attention shifts toward operating windows, achievable performance, and the consistency of savings across a vessel’s actual trading conditions.
Routledge believes that distinction is increasingly important for owners evaluating competing technologies.
“A performance claim only has value if it reflects the realities of how the vessel actually operates. Otherwise, it becomes very difficult for owners to assess risk, return, or operational expectation with confidence.”
As air lubrication systems continue to mature, industry discussions may increasingly move beyond headline percentages and focus instead on the quality of the engineering, testing, and predictive methodologies that support those performance claims.
