TUI Cruises is the first cruise line to tackle decarbonisation with a digital behaviour change service.A pioneering initiative with sustainability startup Signol, working directly with cruise ship captains to reduce fuel consumption.

TUI Cruises is the cruise industry’s first adopter of a digital behavior change platform from Signol aimed at reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions. 

The six-month pilot program uses advanced data analytics and behavioral science to help crew members optimise fuel efficiency across TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff fleet. 

Addressing real operational needs, it builds on extensive consultation with ship captains and chief engineers during TUI Cruises’ 2024 Senior Officer Conference whose personal insights fed into Signol’s analysis and definition of fuel-saving behaviours to improve. Signol representatives also attended the conference.

Key features

Signol worked closely with TUI Cruises to identify four operational processes where captains and chief engineers have the most potential to reduce fuel consumption. One example is ensuring on-time departure to minimise avoidable engine running time. These fuel-saving opportunities (‘behaviours’) have been defined and calculated using insights on cruise ship specific operations. 

TUI Cruises’ crew members will be encouraged to increase their fuel-saving behaviour in these areas through a set of behaviour change techniques, delivered directly via Signol’s web app and email communications.

These science-based techniques include personalised fuel-saving goals based on crew members’ previous behaviour, and charitable donations made by TUI Cruises for every fuel-saving milestone achieved.

TUI Cruises has chosen to support the United Nations-awarded Greek social enterprise Enaleia through this donation scheme. In collaboration with more than 6000 fishers, it conducts the collection of marine plastic daily, which gets integrated in the circular economy via recycling and conversion into new products, such as kayaks.

Harriet Hunnisett Johnson, Head of Maritime at Signol, said, ‘…As a human-centric decarbonisation solution, Signol is always looking to ensure that crew members are engaged and prioritised in fuel efficiency and decarbonisation initiatives. By working closely with TUI Cruises’ captains, we’ve developed a sophisticated approach to fuel-saving onboard cruise ships which is tailored to their experiences and tasks each day.’ 

Sustainability Strategy 2030

‘Reducing carbon emissions is one of TUI Cruises’ main priorities in relation to our Sustainability Strategy 2030,’ explained TUI Cruises’ head of sustainability, Lucienne Damm. 

‘As a young cruise line company, we’ve always ensured that our vessels use the latest and most efficient environmental technologies, but we know that the crew also play a vital role in ensuring that we minimise the environmental impact of our voyages,’ Damm added. 

‘Signol enables us to address fuel efficiency at an even deeper level, by actively engaging crew members on how they can make the most of their opportunities to save fuel and reduce emissions.’ 

Feedback

Signol’s work with TUI Cruises makes use of data available through digital logbooks and performance monitoring tools on TUI’s cruise ships, which has enabled Signol to model the fuel-saving opportunities and activities onboard with greater complexity and accuracy than ever before. This has been achieved through Signol’s unique ability to pull together data sources from any data provider and use data from a variety of systems onboard. 

Captains onboard Mein Schiff vessels said that the Signol project would provide ‘reliable data sources’ to understand their impact on fuel consumption, and would ‘start a measurable record of continuous emissions reduction without compromising safety.’