A project that aims to deliver a 99% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions will test a solid wind sail technology developed by marine engineer BAR Technologies on a kamsarmax bulker.
A consortium of vessel charterers, operators, marine technology companies, designers and academics will seek to develop decarbonisation technologies that can deliver the cuts through a 36-month project starting in June 2021.
The CHEK project aims to deliver a kamsarmax bulker and a Meraviglia-class cruiseship that BAR Technologies said “will be targeting a 99% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, at least 50% savings in energy, and a reduction in black carbon emissions of over 95%”.
It will bring together different approaches across the low carbon sector as “no single technology can yet currently fully decarbonise shipping”.
UK-based BAR Technologies partnered with global commodities firm Cargill last October to fit a solid wind sail system, named WindWings, that it claims can provide annualised fuel savings of up to 30% to a ship.
The kamsarmax bulker in the BAR Technologies test will also feature automated, optimised vessel routing, waste heat recovery, hull form optimisation, and a gate rudder to bring other efficiencies.
Meraviglia-class cruiseships are a series of 171,598-gt vessels owned by MSC Cruises that can carry 4,500 passengers built at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard by STX France from 2017. The cruiseship test will involve hydrogen propulsion.
Other partners in the CHEK project are the World Maritime University, Wartsila, Lloyd's Register, Silverstream Technologies, Hasytec, Deltamarin, Climeon, and the University of Vaasa, which is co-ordinating it.
BAR Technologies is a spin-off from Olympic sailing champion Ben Ainslie’s attempts to win the America’s Cup, which used its insight from yacht racing to help design the prototype wing sail.
The CHEK name is derived from some letters in ‘decarbonising shipping by enabling key technology symbiosis on real vessel concept designs’ and the project is part of the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme to accelerate innovation.
Cargill has already agreed with Chinese-owned naval architect Deltamarin to fit one or more solid wing sails of up to 45 metres in height to tankers or bulkers.
The WindWings concept is the brainchild of a team led by Martin Whitmarsh, former team principal of McLaren Formula 1, and former America’s Cup designer and engineer Simon Schofield.
BAR Technologies chief executive John Cooper said: “Wind propulsion will be a cornerstone of low carbon shipping in future. However, it is most effective as part of a wider suite of decarbonisation technology, and especially when designed into the vessel platform from the beginning.”
This story has been amended since publication to reflect that the shipping companies involved have not been named.
