A cargo partly powered by sail has completed a six-month trial that cut fuel usage by 15% and reduced CO2 emissions.
Commodities trader Cargill said the voyage highlighted wind's potential to reduce the carbon footprint of the shipping industry, but added that at current fuel prices the economics were “stretched”.
In the trial, the MC Shipping Kamsarmax vessel was retrofitted with two WindWings, windsails developed by UK firm BAR Technologies.
After setting sail in August 2023, the ship, Pyxis Ocean, travelled across the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the North and South Atlantic.
Fuel savings were in line with expectations at an average of three tonnes of fuel per day, said Cargil, equating to 11.2 tonnes of C02 emissions saved for each day the sails were up.
If replicated over a year, that is the equivalent of 480 cars on the roads, Cargill estimates.
"We are encouraged by the results and have learned a great deal about implementing wind-assisted propulsion on dry bulk vessels," said Jan Dieleman, president of Cargill’s Ocean Transportation business.
Talks are underway with ports to build areas to retrofit ships, he added, while BAR Technologies said it intends to use three sails in the future rather than two.
International shipping is a major carbon emitter, accounting for 837 million tonnes of CO2 annually or 2.1% of total global emissions.