A marine engineering company has finally sailed its eco-friendly freighter – in an effort to do so decarbonise cargo ships by up to 30 percent.
BAR Technologies, initially led by Olympic medalist Sir Ben Ainslie, announced the ship’s departure after a three-year wait after plans were first revealed.
Although Ainslie has since parted ways with the company, the ship was created as a result of BAR’s partnership with Cargill, Mitsubishi Corporation and Yara Marine Technologies.
The maiden voyage of the Pyxix Ocean ship sailed 3,500 miles from Shanghai to Singapore after they fitted an old ship with a new wing innovation.
A marine engineering company has finally sailed its eco-friendly freighter — attempting to decarbonise freighters by up to 30 percent
Pyxix Ocean ship’s maiden voyage sailed 3,500 miles from Shanghai to Singapore after fitting an old ship with a new wing innovation
Called ‘WindWings’ – the steel and fiberglass folding sails that are about 37.5 meters high and are mounted on the decks of freighters ‘to harness the power of the wind’.
While the addition of WindWings is new, the Pyxix Ocean vessel has been operating as a regular freighter since it was built by Mitsubishi in 2017.
The WindWings were installed on the six-year-old ship at a Chinese shipyard.
Like ships of previous centuries, the sails harness wind for propulsion, but BAR’s modern counterpart is specifically designed for efficiency.
Yara Marine Technologies says: ‘We expect to achieve average fuel savings of up to 30 percent on newbuild vessels that will be used in commercial shipping’.
BAR claims that ‘international shipping as a sector generates more emissions than the whole of Germany.
“If it were a nation, it would be the sixth largest emitter of CO2 in the world.
“It is hoped that wind energy will reduce complete dependence on diesel engines, thereby reducing the amount of pollutants produced.”
Jan Dieleman, president of Cargill, said, “The partnership would enable the company to customers looking to reduce emissions from their supply chain with a custom solution.
“Through this partnership, we will provide tailor-made wind solutions to customers who are actively looking to reduce carbon emissions from their supply chain,” he said.
“WindWings technology allows Cargill to offer customers a solution that improves vessel efficiency, regardless of the fuel used or engine type,” he continued.
The first roll-out will be on product tankers before being added to dry bulk carriers.