The Norwegian designers at Lade AS, have come up with a new concept for a partly wind-powered merchant ship the Vindskip (Windship). According to Lade AS the ship’s design can cut fuel use by 60% and carbon emissions by up to 80%.
Ship Efficiency – Regulation or Economics?
November 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The following article was initially published in the Isle of Man Maritime Blog by Dick Welsh Director of Isle of Man Ship Registry. I recently attended London’s Inaugural International Shipping Week. A very successful week, with great support from all in the industry. During the week, I attended a number of high level conferences, with some very distinguished speakers, where the topic of fuel efficiency for ships was never far away.
NORDEN Tanker Turned Off Engine and Sailed by Wind and Sea Current
July 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
A product tanker weighing 47,400 tons sailed a distance of 280nm having its engine shut off using only wind and sea currents to navigate through the sea. The tanker made it to the discharge port in time. but by stopping the main engine for 3-4 days, savings of 27 tons of fuel were made. So it appears that sometime traditional methods of navigation at sea may be more economic/fuel efficient compared to proposed technological improvements. Of course this cannot happen everyday but such an incident is worth mentioning especially during these times were everyone seems to be in panic of cutting costs and saving more fuel.
Maersk Ships Get New Bulbous Bow
March 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Ten Maersk ships are getting a new bulbous bow in order to make them more fuel efficient. The change is intended to improve the performance of the vessels significantly, with fuel costs reduced by approximately 8% in the current slow-steaming environment. The vessels were too expensive to use, since they were designed for high speed. If they were retrofitted, however, Seago Line were interested in taking five vessels.
Officer of the Watch 