Airbus decided to release three ships moving in part, with the wind.
The company constructionof aircraft on Thursday revealed that it has “commissioned shipowner Louis Dreyfus Armateurs to build, own and operate these new, high-performance vessels that will be put into mode from 2026".
The ships will have conventional engines that will run on marine diesel oil and e-methanol. The last fuel is done with a procedure which produces less CO2 than other efforts. Many ships run on heavy fuel oil, the dirtiest and cheapest of the fuel oils. Airbus chooses e-methanol instead of diesel.
The ships will also have Flettner rotors, rotating cylinders that produce the Magnus effect – a phenomenon that causes lift thanks to differences pressures on either side of a rotating object. Rotors were invented a century ago and reduce the fuel requirements of ships.
Airbus expects its three ships to be in service from 2026 and has estimated they will reduce average annual transatlantic CO2 emissions from 68.000 to 33.000 tonnes by 2030.
However, the ships will also help the manufacturer increase the number of A320 aircraft it builds to 75 a month. It should be noted that each of these aircraft will produce plenty of CO2.