- Wind power to cut fuel consumption by up to 10%
- 30-metre tall metal cylinders installed to work as mechanical sails
- Yearly savings of as much as $365,000 per vessel that sails 250 days/year is expected
Increasing fuel price
Maersk Tankers is testing the use of wind power to fuel its ships, a new technology, delivered by Norsepower. By this, fuel consumption can be cut by up to 10 percent and help the industry reduce polluting emissions, says Maersk in a report.
The move comes as the global shipping industry is suffering from rising oil prices and preparing for fuel costs to rise further by around a quarter, or some $24 billion, in 2020 when new rules limiting sulfur is in place.
Cylinders work as sails
Two 30-metre tall metal cylinders are installed on board the Maersk Pelican, a Long Range 2 (LR2) product tanker vessel. The cylinders, or rotor sails, work as mechanical sails that spin to propel the vessel forward.
The Maersk Pelican on a test journey, will depart Rotterdam on Thursday. If successful, Maersk Tankers, which shipping giant Maersk sold last year to its controlling shareholder and Japan’s Mitsui & Co for 1.71 billion, plans to install the cylinders on half its 164 vessels, a report says.
Maersk Pelican is the third vessel to have the rotor sail technology installed. Norsepower first installed it on a small cargo ship in 2014 and on a ferry sailing between Sweden and Finland in April this year.
Expected yearly savings
The company said, LR2 vessel on an average uses around 35 tonnes of shipping fuel per day. At the current price of high sulfur fuel of around $420 per ton, that would amount to yearly savings of as much as $365,000 if the vessel sails 250 days a year.
The change in regulations in 2020 forces a portion of the world’s fleet to switch to lower sulfur, but higher cost, fuels such as marine gasoil (MGO) and ultra low sulfur fuel oil.
Consultants Wood Mackenzie estimated in April that, the total global shipping fuel bill is roughly $100 billion a year.
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Source: Reuters
