Deltamarin joins wind-assisted RoRo design team

The new fleet will reportedly half C02 emissions compared with 2023 levels by the year 2030.

Airbus has selected the French shipowner LDA to modernise its entire fleet of chartered vessels that transport aircraft subassemblies between production facilities in Europe and the United States.

Deltamarin has previously collaborated with LDA on the concept design of the vessels, and now continues with the basic and detail design for the Wuchang shipyard.

Powered by a combination of six Flettner rotors and two dual-fuel engines running on marine diesel oil and e-methanol, the vessels are designed for minimal environmental footprint. The new fleet is expected to reduce average annual transatlantic CO2 emissions from 68,000 to 33,000 tonnes by 2030.

Each new transatlantic vessel will have the capacity to transport around seventy 40-foot containers and six single-aisle aircraft subassembly sets, a substantial increase from current cargo ships.

The vessels will be built, owned and operated by LDA and are expected to begin operations in 2026.