Commercial shipping’s decarbonisation journey took a further step forward on Monday as the first vessel equipped with WindWings, an innovative wind-assisted propulsion system, began its first voyage following its retrofitting at COSCO’s Shanghai shipyard.
Developed by marine engineering consultancy BAR Technologies in partnership with Yara Marine, shipowner Mitsubishi Corporation and operator Cargill, WindWings is a hard sail system which can be fitted to the deck of cargo vessels. The 229 metre bulk carrier Pyxis Ocean, which under long-term charter to Cargill, will now undertake a six-week voyage from China to Brazil to assess the system’s performance with a view to rolling out the technology across Cargill’s fleet if successful.
Average fuel savings are expected to reach as much as 30% when installed on newbuildings, reducing CO2 emissions by as much as 20 tonnes per day.
As reported by The Naval Architect recently, BAR Technologies has been awarded a full Type Approval Design Certificate (TADC) from class society DNV. Although a trailblazer, a second WindWings-retrofitted vessel, Berge Bulk’s 211,200dwt Newcastlemax Berge Olympus, is scheduled for completion shortly.
