Full sail
Imagine a container ship on its way over the Atlantic. Then, imagine a kite-surfer on a Mediterranean beach. Can you imagine a combination of these two? We can. Sometimes one has to look back in order to look forward, and one of the truly exciting ways of creating a more environmentally-friendly shipping industry has to be a vintage solution: wind power – sails.
This is not a matter of turning to old-fashioned schooners to transport containers over the Atlantic, but of using modern, kite-like sails on ordinary cargo ships. The company SkySails manufactures such sails and promises a savings in fuel consumption of between 10 and 35 percent, and a halving when wind conditions are perfect. At a time when fuel for shipping is becoming steadily more expensive this solution is a real gift for shipping lines – and for the environment.
At the moment the technology is still under development, and only test ships have been equipped with a SkySail. Despite teething troubles, the ship Beluga SkySails, for instance, has reduced its fuel consumption by 5 to 10 percent. As more manufacturers become involved, the sails will become bigger and better. As more shipping lines deploy modern sails, the effect will be noticeable in global terms.