The trend of using green sea transport by wind power

Shipping companies around the world are facing increasing pressure to tackle the huge amount of air pollution emitted by the maritime industry. In a move towards cleaner shipping, “wind-assisted propulsion” technology is being deployed as a solution to help the shipping industry become more environmentally friendly.

Wind is considered a fuel that costs almost nothing. In addition to significantly increasing operating costs, the potential for reducing emissions from this fuel is also huge. In recent years, some shipping companies have experimented with installing giant sails to pull ships at sea or installing engines that run in part on wind power.

As one of the companies joining the trend of using green shipping using wind power, the French company TOWT is trying to test the Anemos sailing ship, marking a significant step forward in the shipping industry. The 81m-long Anemos is capable of carrying 1,000 tonnes of cargo. With its giant, automatically controlled sails, the Anemos has an overall height of 62.8m. With its modern design and advanced technology, the Anemos is not only a symbol of the revival of traditional maritime technology but also a potential solution to the environmental challenges facing the shipping industry. Wind-powered propulsion devices are said to be able to support the transition to cleaner alternative fuels. Reducing a ship's overall fuel requirements helps limit some of the price shocks of switching to green fuel.

On its maiden voyage, the sailing ship Anemos sailed from Le Havre, France, to Newark, New York. The sight of a sailing ship arriving in Newark with its hold full of champagne, cognac, and jam may evoke a long-forgotten era of wind-powered shipping. With Anemos, TOWT is looking to revive this cheap, environmentally friendly technology and contribute to sustainable shipping. TOWT CEO Guillaume Le Grand hopes this will be the first of many future voyages for Anemos, and he says six more ships have been ordered amid growing consumer concern about the carbon footprint of transportation.

According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the shipping industry emits about 1 billion tons of CO2 each year, equivalent to nearly 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. IMO hopes to achieve carbon neutrality in the sector by 2050. In recent years, some shipping lines have experimented with installing giant kites to pull ships at sea or installing engines that run partly on wind power on ships to reduce their dependence on diesel.

According to the International Wind Powered Ship Association, there are currently about 40 large cargo ships worldwide that use wind power. This is still a small number compared to the 105,000 ships with a capacity of more than 100 tons worldwide. According to Popular Science, wind not only provides zero-emission propulsion, but is also an inexhaustible and predictable resource. These characteristics are very useful for the shipping industry, which is responsible for about 2%-3% of the world's CO2 emissions, equivalent to 837 million tons of CO2 per year.

SOUTH

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/xu-huong-su-dung-van-tai-bien-xanh-bang-suc-gio-post757451.html