A handful of cargo-ship operators in recent years have been experimenting with an old-fashioned power source: the sail. And it’s all in the name of reducing fuel consumption and emissions. According to the technology’s proponents, the added wind-driven propulsion a sail provides cuts down on the work required from a ship’s bunker fuel-powered engine, thus minimizing fuel use along with pollution.
Now one shipowner is doubling down on that bet by investing in a company that makes this new technology. Japanese shipowner Nissen Kaiun has become a shareholder in Econowind, a Dutch manufacturer that offers a wind-assist shipping propulsion device called the VentoFoil.
First tested in 2018, the VentoFoil looks more like a solid airplane wing mounted vertically on the ship’s deck than the billowing canvas sails of yore. Econowind says it has sold more than 130 of the VentoFoil units, which use suction-based airflow control to deliver scalable, cost-effective energy savings.
“The partnership with Nissen Kaiun will support the expansion of our VentoFoil product line, including larger units for deep-sea shipping, and could also open the door to future production in Asia,” Daan Koornneef, CEO of Econowind, said in a release. “Nissen Kaiun is the perfect partner with a large network in Japan and wider Asian markets. With them becoming a shareholder, we can expand our footprint and accelerate the development of larger units for the deep-sea markets.”
