In a new move toward sustainable maritime transportation, bound4blue, one of several companies working on wind-assisted propulsion systems, has achieved another landmark by installing the first-ever fixed suction sails on a Roll-on/Roll-off (ro-ro) vessel. The project took place aboard the Ville de Bordeaux, a vessel chartered by Airbus from French shipowner Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA). […]
Zulu Associates, an Antwerp-based maritime innovator, has published designs for a zero emission autonomous 200 TEU container vessel utilising an auxiliary wind assistance system. The Zulu MASS, which has been designed by Dutch naval architects Conoship International, is being developed with Zulu’s subsidiary the Anglo Belgian Shipping company. As the company’s name suggests it is […]
European developer of wind-assisted propulsion (WAP) systems bound4blue has secured €22.4 million in new funding from several key investors as well as the European Commission. A total of €15.9 million comes from a Series A funding round led by GTT Strategic Ventures, with the participation of the EIC Fund (European Innovation Council) and the Sustainable […]
By Michal Orych, managing director, FLOWTECH Int. AB, Martin Kjellberg, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden/SSPA, and Lars Larsson, Chalmers University of Technology Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is presently an accepted tool for predicting calm water resistance and power at model scale. The status of CFD for these applications is well covered by the International Workshops […]
It was another busy London International Shipping Week (LISW) in September and RINA played its part by hosting the ‘Wind Propulsion: Barriers, Drivers and Perception Forum’ at our Northumberland Street headquarters on 14th September. Held in association with the International Windship Association (IWSA), the event was an opportunity to discuss pathways forward for the wind-assisted […]
After nearly a decade in development, the announcement in January that French shipowner Neoline Armateur has signed a contract with a Turkish shipyard, RMK Marine, for the construction of the world’s first large sail-powered commercial cargo ship has been heralded as a landmark moment in the renaissance of wind propulsion. But while much of the […]
BAR Technologies (BARTech) has been awarded a full Type Approval Design Certificate (TADC) for its wind propulsion technology – BAR Technologies WindWings by Yara Marine Technologies (WindWings) – from classification society DNV. Since being awarded an approval in principle (AiP) for WindWings in 2021, inventor and designer BARTech and industrialisation partner Yara Marine Technologies (YMT) […]
Modern wind-assist systems are a major departure from traditional sail systems in that they are not made of canvas and while there may be some systems that can alter their shape, most are made of rigid materials and have automated control systems. Flettner rotors have been the most popular choice of system so far accounting […]
The Naval Architect March 2022
Investment and installation of wind propulsion is starting to ramp up, according to the IWSA’s secretary-general.
The Naval Architect June 2021
Rotor and wing sails, an emerging trend for wind assisted propulsion on bulk carriers.