Mitsubishi vessel to be retrofitted with Windwings

The installation, anticipated for deployment at the beginning of 2023, comes as the next step in a collaboration launched in 2019 between Cargill and MC Shipping Singapore Branch – the shipping arm of the Mitsubishi Corporation – to increase energy saving and reduce emissions from international shipping.

Two WindWings will be delivered by Yara Marine Technologies and installed on the Pyxis Ocean­, with one of those wings funded by the European Union as part of EU Horizon 2020 Project CHEK, dedicated to demonstrating solutions for decarbonising international shipping.

At five years old the Pyxis Ocean, an 80,962 dwt bulk carrier, represents the challenges the energy transition poses to the global fleet, says BAR Tech. With vessels up to nine years in age comprising 55% of the world’s bulk carrier fleet, and 51% of all ships on the water, the industry is in dire need of retrofit solutions capable of decarbonising existing ships, alongside the research and development of future sources of clean fuel such as renewable gases and hydrogen.

“The pressure is on the ship owning and chartering community to take proactive and material action to tackle the immediate and uprising challenges towards the energy transition on its existing vessels, and fast,” said Takafumi Oka, General Manager, Ship Dept. of Mitsubishi Corporation.

“Our partnership with Cargill demonstrates the collaborative effort that is required to align strategic objectives among the stakeholders and ensure the global fleet can keep pace with evolving demands to reduce the environmental impact of our industry. It has been an exciting journey with multinational counterparties such as Cargill, BAR Tech, Yara Marine, DNV and an engineering company Cybermarine to overcome the challenges together and make this happen, and we hope to see many of such collaborations in our maritime industry to scale the solutions.”

Jan Dieleman, president of Cargill’s Ocean Transportation division, said: “Cargill and MC Shipping are working together to bridge the gap between shipowner and charterer, with a desire to implement technologies that will benefit not just both parties, but the industry and the planet at large.”

John Cooper, CEO of BAR Technologies, added: “Cargill and MC Shipping’s WindWings installation demonstrates a step change in attitudes towards technologies as a means of enabling the energy transition for existing vessels. Reductions in fuel consumption via the exploitation of wind energy as a free fuel generates the two-fold benefits of lower fuel costs and lower emissions, propelling the global fleet affordably on its track to decarbonisation. With projected reductions in average fuel consumption of up to 30% for a full-scale deployment, we anticipate that WindWings will significantly outperform its contemporaries in the wind propulsion arena.”

The partnership with Cargill and MC Shipping, alongside funding from the European Union and WindWings’ receipt of AiP from DNV late last year, brings yet another vote of confidence to the solution and its benefits for the industry, he said.