Airbus will equip one of the vessels it uses to carry aircraft subassemblies, contracted from shipowner Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, with a wind-assisted propulsion technology that harnesses wind energy to generate thrust, producing savings in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
Compared to a traditional rigid sail, the eSAIL, designed by the Spain-based company bound4blue, generates up to six to seven times the lift. It comprises a vertical surface shaped like a sail and an electric-powered air suction system that helps the airflow re-adhere to the sail. This results in greater lift and lessening the burden on the ship’s primary engines.
In preparation for a six-month performance monitoring period that will begin at the beginning of 2024, the Ville de Bordeaux will have three eSAILs installed at heights of 22 metres each. Subassemblies of aircraft from the A320 Family are consistently transported from Europe to Mobile, Alabama, in the United States by the Ville de Bordeaux.
Installing eSAILs aboard the Ville de Bordeaux helps Airbus fulfil its promise to cut carbon dioxide emissions from its maritime activities in half by 2030, relative to the baseline year 2015. Estimates provided by bound4blue indicate that these eSAILs can reduce this ship’s yearly fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 560 and 1,800 tonnes, respectively.
The European Union is contributing funding to help pay for the installation of eSAILs on the Ville de Bordeaux.
According to Nicolas Chrétien, Head of Sustainability & Environment at Airbus, the company has researched wind-assisted technology as a possible energy source for its maritime operations over the past several years.
According to Mathieu Muzeau, the Transport & Logistic General Manager at Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, the company is working towards the goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050 as part of its efforts to promote the decarbonisation of the shipping industry. One of the potential solutions that the business feels will aid it in achieving this goal is propulsion, which is helped by the wind. According to him, the company is keen to identify and test various forms of wind-assisted propulsion to evaluate which technology will most benefit its operations. These forms of wind-assisted propulsion include rotating vertical cylinders, flexible sails, rigid sails, and wings. He said that the business would soon install the eSAILs manufactured by bound4blue on its ro-ro vessel Ville de Bordeaux, which the company operates for Airbus.
David Ferrer, the Chief Technology Officer of bound4blue, said the firm was pleased to install its 22-metre eSAILs on the Ville de Bordeaux because it has already deployed and demonstrated its technology on three ships. This deployment will represent the first-ever installation of a fixed suction sail on a Ro-Ro ship. He also mentioned it would demonstrate that suction sails can be deployed on ships with high weather decks and huge windage areas without compromising the vessel’s stability.
