IMO grants the International Windship Association consultative status

IWSA is a not-for-profit organisation that has over 150 members from across the industry. The organisation says it will help bring wind-assist and primary wind propulsion issues to the fore as the wind technology segment continues to grow. It is a critical period for the industry with EEXI and CII regulations coming into force next year and discussions over carbon levies and raising the decarbonisation ambition for 2050 on the table in London. It is with this backdrop that wind-assist systems and primary wind propulsion vessel designs will be scaled into the fleet over the next couple of years.

The IWSA has already been contributing to IMO programs over the past three years through a seat on the Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres Stakeholder Advisory Committee.

The most recent MEPC 77 saw amendments to the assessment of wind propulsion with the adoption of the circular 896, ‘Guidance on Treatment of Innovative Energy Efficiency Technologies for Calculation and Verification of the Attained EEDI and EEXI’ backed by Comoros, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Netherlands and RINA.

An online forum presented by The Motorship Propulsion and Future Fuels Live last year indicated that wind propulsion is likely to become an increasingly important part of the mix of solutions available to shipowners looking to reduce their environmental footprint.

However, Gavin Allwright, IWSA Secretary General, said on confirmation of the IMO consultative status that there is still quite a perception gap when it comes to the uptake of wind propulsion. “Currently, we have more large commercial vessels in operation using wind propulsion systems than all zero-emission fuel options combined, and the signs are there for this to scale strongly in the coming years, and yet there is a distinct lack of integration of direct wind propulsion at the heart of our industry’s efforts to decarbonise. The direct use of wind energy has great potential to quickly accelerate these efforts while also helping to lower costs dramatically across the board and facilitate the uptake of other low carbon energy and fuel options.”

The IWSA is joined by four other organisations, making up the first intake granted consultative status since 2019 and these include; the Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA), Global TestNet, the Ballastwater Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (BEMA) and the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC).