Cargo ship on maiden voyage with retrofitted wind-powered sails
The first vessel to be retrofitted with two WindWings set sail on Monday 21 August.
Pyxis Ocean retrofitted with WindWings setting sail for its maiden voyage, August 2023
© CargillWindWings are large wing sails measuring up to 37.5m in height that can be fitted to the deck of cargo ships to harness wind power.
The Mitsubishi Corporation's Pyxis Ocean, chartered by Cargill, set sail with its new sails on her maiden voyage.
They were produced by Yara Marine Technologies, and expect to save an average of up to 30% fuel on new builds, potentially more if used with alternative fuels.
The installation of Pyxis Ocean's sails happened at the COSCO shipyard in China.
The WingWings project is co-funded by the EU as part of the CHEK Horizon 2020 initiative, to help industry meet its targets with a retrofit solution. Of the world's bulker fleets, 55% are up to nine years in age.
The performance will be closely monitored to further improve design, operation and performance, to inform scale-up and adoption.
BAR TEchnologies and Yara Marine Technologies are planning hundreds of wings over the next four years. BAR Technologies is also researching newbuilds with improved hydronamic hulls.
On an average global route, WindWings can save 1.5t of fuel per WindWing per day, possibly more on transocean routes. This could save vessel owners around $800/t of heavy fuel oil.
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