The encyclopedia · Engineering & Operations · Technical decision · 2018–2026
Maersk put Flettner rotor sails back on tankers to cut bunker fuel
Maersk Tankers fitted two 30m rotor sails on a product tanker, expecting 7-10% lower fuel and emissions via the Magnus effect.
Maersk Tankers · Norsepower
the move
Decades of engine development left wind propulsion in the past, but rising fuel and carbon costs changed the economics of the kind of free energy a ship already sails through.
Maersk Tankers installed two 30m rotor sails on the product tanker Maersk Pelican in Rotterdam, built by Norsepower and based on the Magnus effect, expecting 7-10% lower fuel use and emissions.
The sails were already on three commercial vessels; the project measured long-term financial and technical viability, with partners including Shell Shipping and Maritime and the Energy Technologies Institute.
why it works
- Sails supply free propulsion from the wind the ship already meets.
- A 7-10% fuel cut is a straight cost and emissions saving.
- Retrofitting an existing ship avoids building a new one.
what transfers
A century-old mechanism someone wrote off can be the cheapest innovation available, if the cost that made it obsolete has changed.
what came after
The project was called a first for the product-tanker industry. Maersk Tankers later placed orders for more wind-assisted propulsion for several tankers, and the wider dry-bulk and tanker sector is retesting an idea that has been around since the 1920s.
references
- Maersk Tankers installs two rotor sails on vessel to cut fuel costs
- One of world's largest shipping tanker operators signs up for wind-assisted propulsion systems
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