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Wind-powered cargo ship sets sail with groundbreaking metal 'wings'

Lottie Casas August 26, 2023

Wind-powered cargo ship sets sail with groundbreaking metal ‘wings’

  • The long-awaited eco-friendly cargo vessel has finally launched
  • British sailing legend Sir Ben Ainslie is no longer associated with the project
  • READ MORE: Cargo ships to be fitted with sails to reduce emissions

A maritime engineering company has finally sailed its eco-friendly cargo vessel – in a bid to decarbonise cargo vessels by up to 30 per cent.

BAR Technologies, initially headed by Olympic medallist Sir Ben Ainslie announced the sailing of the ship following a three-year wait after plans were first unveiled.

While Ainslie has since parted ways with the company, the ship has come about as a result of BAR’s collaboration with Cargill, Mitsubishi Corporation and Yara Marine Technologies. 

The Pyxix Ocean ship’s maiden voyage sailed 3,500 miles from Shanghai to Singapore after they retrofitted an old ship with a new wing innovation.

A maritime engineering company has finally sailed its eco-friendly cargo vessel – in a bid to decarbonise cargo vessels by up to 30 per cent

The Pyxix Ocean ship’s maiden voyage sailed 3,500 miles from Shanghai to Singapore after they retrofitted an old ship with a new wing innovation

Dubbed ‘WindWings’ – the foldable steel and fibreglass sails standing at approximately 37.5 metres in height, fitted to the deck of cargo ships ‘to harness the power of wind’.

While the WindWings addition is novel, the Pyxix Ocean ship has been functioning as a regular cargo ship since being built by Mitsubishi in 2017.

The WindWings were installed to the six-year-old ship at a Chinese shipyard. 

Much like ships of previous centuries, the sails harness wind for propulsion, but BAR’s modern counterpart has been specifically designed for efficiency.

Yara Marine Technologies says: ‘We expect to generate average fuel savings of up to 30 per cent on new build vessels, which are to be used in commercial shipping’.

BAR claim that ‘International shipping as an industry churns out more emissions than all of Germany.

‘If it was a nation, it would be the sixth worst polluter of CO2 in the world. 

‘It is hoped the wind power will reduce the complete reliance on diesel-powered engines, slashing the amount of pollutants produced’.

Jan Dieleman, a Cargill president said ‘The partnership would allow the business to provide the clients seeking to lower emissions from their supply chain with a bespoke solution.

‘Through this partnership, we will bring bespoke wind solutions to customers who are actively seeking to reduce CO2 emissions from their supply chain,’ he said.

”With the WindWings technology, Cargill will be able to offer customers a solution that improves vessel efficiency, independent of the fuel or type of engine used,’ he continues’.

Initial rollout will be on product tankers before being added to dry bulk vessels.

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