ABB has announced a long-term service contract from Carnival Corporation to maintain and upgrade its Azipod equipment over the next 15 years for 20 ships in their fleet, promising to cut energy costs by as much as $1 million a year per ship.

According to ABB’s, its Azipod system uses less fuel than traditional propulsion, and upgrades are projected to improve the energy efficiency of Azipod units by 2.5 to 4 percent.

The service contract covers technology and energy efficiency upgrades for all Azipod systems and propulsion condition monitoring for all ships, and other system equipment maintenance.

The contract includes technology upgrades such as the newly designed Azipod optimized fin shape, which receives water flow from the propeller at a new, less acute angle that redirects the flow more efficiently and Azipod Dynamic Optimizer, a software tool designed to control the pod toe angle, which provides even greater fuel savings for large vessels, ABB stated in a press release.