MAR 02

We've written a few times about the fuel-reducing power of the ship-propelling SkySail kites.  In trial runs, the large sails, which are mounted to the front of container ships, have been able to cut fuel use by 20 percent and the company says that the sails could cut fuel use by up to 35 percent in real-world applications.

Now SkySails has a major customer in Cargill, a shipping company that transports more than 185 million tons of goods each year.  Cargill doesn't own any ships themselves, but the companyhas signed a contract with SkySails to test a kite on one of the handysize vessels that it operates through an agreement with the ship's owner.  The handysize vessel weighs in at 25,000 to 30,000 tons, which means it will be the largest ship so far to be propelled by a kite.

The SkySail system should be outfitted on the ship by early 2012 and if all goes well, Cargill will make a larger order.  A study by the United Nations International Maritime Organization found that use of SkySails on ships worldwide could reduce shipping CO2 emissions by 100 million tons a year.  Let's hope more large ships will be outfitted with this technology soon.

via Environmental Leader

Comments (3)

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Full Circle
written by Nic, March 02, 2011

A very cool idea. Maybe we'll eventually come full circle to ships powered by the wind alone (what a novel concept ;-) ...).

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written by Charlie Robinson, March 03, 2011

I've had dreams of seeing what modern technology could do with the concept of a clipper ship for a while...

Of course, new sail power is nothing new itself - during the last oil shock at the end of the 70's it was poised for a comeback - this Time article from 1980 could be reprinted today without looking in any way out of place. And they were claiming a 50% reduction in fuel costs back then...

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,951545,00.html

As usual, leaves me torn between optimism and despair

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written by Mehul Kamdar, March 11, 2011

Some European wine makers have been shipping wines to destinations in Europe on new sailships. Perhaps, it is time for an entrepreneur to look at shipping organic food products on sailships - short sailing distances in the Americas should definitely be workable. No idea how the economics would work out in these times as the business would involve building new sailing cargo vessels and they are not exactly cheap, but fuel costs would, of course, be minimized. Maybe some entrepreneur needs to look at this carefully.

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