Innovative wind propulsion system on voyage to decarbonise the maritime industry

A ship powered by the innovative rigid sails, that inventors BAR Technologies have christened WindWings, has set out on its maiden voyage.

BAR Technologies, a company born out of the Sir Ben Ainslie’s 2017 America’s Cup team, have worked with shipping firm Cargill to develop the sails which it is believed could eventually reduce a cargo ship’s lifetime emissions by 30%.

John Cooper, CEO BAR Technologies said: ‘Cargill phoned us and said ‘could you invent a wind propulsion system for us? A system that we could put on our vessels and decarbonise the delivery of food around the globe.”

The first journey of the WindWings-powered Pyxis Ocean will be from from China to Brazil, expected to take around six weeks.  

The WindWings are up to 37,5m high and can be fitted to the deck of cargo ships and folded down when in port. They are expected to generate average fuel savings of up to 30% on new build vessels, even more if used in combination with alternative fuels. 

On an average global route, WindWings can save 1.5 tonnes of fuel per WindWing per day – with the possibility of saving more on trans ocean routes. 

John Cooper told the BBC: ‘I do predict by 2025 half the new-build ships will be ordered with wind propulsion. The reason I’m so confident is our savings – one and a- half tonnes of fuel per day. Get four wings on a vessel, that’s six tonnes of fuel saved, that’s 20 tonnes of CO2 saved – per day. The numbers are massive.’

Jan Dieleman, President of Cargill’s Ocean Transportation business said: ‘The maritime industry is on a journey to decarbonize—it’s not an easy one, but it is an exciting one. At Cargill we have a responsibility to pioneer decarbonizing solutions across all our supply chains to meet our customer’s needs and the needs of the planet.

‘A technology like WindWings doesn’t come without risk, and as an industry leader – in partnership with visionary shipowner Mitsubishi Corporation – we are not afraid to invest, take those risks and be transparent with our learnings to help our partners in maritime transition to a more sustainable future.’

The performance of the WindWings will be closely monitored over the coming months to further improve their design, operation, and performance, with the aim that the Pyxis Ocean will be used to inform the scale-up and adoption across not only Cargill’s fleet but the industry. BAR Technologies and the wing’s manufacturers, Yara Marine Technologies, are already planning to build hundreds of wings over the next four years and BAR Technologies is also researching newbuilds with improved hydrodynamic hull forms.

John Cooper added: ‘If international shipping is to achieve its ambition of reducing CO2 emissions, then innovation must come to the fore. Wind is a near marginal cost-free fuel and the opportunity for reducing emissions, alongside significant efficiency gains in vessel operating costs, is substantial. Today is the culmination of years of pioneering research, where we’ve invested in our unique wind sail technology and sought out a skilled industrialization partner in Yara Marine Technologies, in order to provide vessel owners and operators with an opportunity to realise these efficiencies.’