Η French company Airseas installed its first automated Seawing (half size) on a truck ship chartered by Airbus. The ship will begin six months of trials in January. This is a wing like in a kite or paraglider. The full-size fender is estimated to save up to 20 percent in fuel and emissions.
The 154-meter Ville de Bordeaux, owned by Louis Dreyfus, is currently on long-term lease from Airbus, which is using it to move large aircraft structures between its plants in Europe.
The ship was fitted with a 500 square meter wing, as well as all deck and bridge equipment required to operate the Seawing system. The Seawing deploys automatically, first being released from its case on a trolley, then lifted from the deck on a crane to catch the wind, and finally, dropped into a long cable to catch the steady, strong winds above about 200 meters above her level seas.
Thus begins a navigation at speeds above 100 km / h, which is monitored and controlled by an automated system on the ship that is programmed to place the wing in a place that offers maximum traction. Seawing computers are also interfaced with the ship's navigation systems, monitoring wind conditions and rerouting the ship to follow the most efficient route without affecting its arrival time.
The system can be installed on almost any large ship in a matter of days, without affecting its loading or storage space.
The Seawing to be tested is half the size of the normal 1.000-square-foot wing that Airseas will eventually release for commercial use.
Airseas relies on a 2009 study that found that a ship transportof 8.000 TEU containers burns about 225 tons of fuel per day at 24 knots (44,4 km/h), but can reduce fuel by 33 percent if traveling slightly slower at 21 knots (38,9 km/h).
