The application of wind propulsion on vessels is now reaching a tipping point in the shipping industry, a major industry conference heard last week.
BAR Technologies has seen a surge in enquiries from shipowners seeking to adopt the technology in the past 12 months and this is set to intensify in the next couple of years, according to the company’s CEO John Cooper.
He was speaking on a panel, ‘Sails to Solutions: Collaborative Pathways in Wind Propulsion for Modern Shipping’ during the ‘Accelerating Digitalisation and Decarbonisation Conference’ during
Singapore Maritime Week.
BAR Technologies is the supplier of WindWings – a rigid sail technology that uses wind propulsion to deliver average daily savings of 1.5 tonnes of fuel per wing and 4.6 tonnes of CO
2 per wing on typical global routes. Also on the panel was Bhuvnesh Dogra, head of technical at Union Maritime, which is working with BAR Technologies to fit WindWings on up to 30 of its new ships on order.
Mr Cooper said: “Union Maritime vessels are being built in eight different yards currently so it is a very busy time for BAR Technologies, but we are pleased with the progress we are making. There is no doubt wind has reached a tipping point, and more and more owners are coming to us, coming to the industry, to talk about our products and talk about how we can do our best to help them in decarbonisation.”
Mr Dogra added: "As ship owners, we have examined various technologies and means to control emissions. After looking at the various technologies, we came to the conclusion that WindWings is one of the technologies which is going to take us very quickly towards succeeding in carbon reduction. Working closely with BAR Technologies has been very important for us. We are convinced that WindWings is the technology which is going to produce the best results for efficient and cost-effective shipping."
Prepared for a surge in demandMr Cooper also addressed the issues of supply and performance guarantees during the panel discussion. The ability of yards to build sufficient numbers of WindWings sails to meet demand has been a question for a while. He said: “There will be a surge in demand for the equipment, which we can see from our inquiry levels. But we are ready. We have a tie up with China Merchants Energy Tech in China and its production line has plenty of capacity in place.
“China Merchants has invested a huge amount in our product, and is currently making 10 at a time. The company can make over 50 in a year, and can also double the size of the production line, so will be producing WingWings in the hundreds.”
He rejected suggestions a lack of supply may be a problem for the industry and added that BAR Technologies has the ability to ramp up production. Mr Cooper continued: “We have also cracked the issue of lead times. Our original 37.5m wing is available eight months from the original order, and our newly developed and launched 20 and 24m wings are available in seven months.”
Mr Cooper noted the Chinese yards could produce 100 units a year quite soon and that retrofit times were getting shorter and inside a normal drydock survey window. Mr Cooper said the technology enabled BAR Technologies to provide performance guarantees. “I want our clients to have a performance guarantee. We know exactly what the thrust of the wings will be. There is no risk for us and there is no performance risk for our clients.
He concluded: "I encourage this great industry of ours to move forward with a little bit of collaboration to show the owners how much thrust they're going to get and actually come to a logical conclusion on how we are going to get the performance they need.”