South Holland-based stainless steel chemical tanker operator Chemship has equipped the first chemical tanker with “sails”.
This makes the ‘Chemical Challenger’ the first chemical tanker in the world to be equipped with sustainable wind technology.
The ship will serve on shipping company Chemship’s Trans-Atlantic route between the East Coast of the United States and the Mediterranean. This week four 16-metre-high aluminium wind sails were installed on board the 134-metre-long vessel.
The inauguration of the sails, which took place in the port of Rotterdam last Friday, is considered by the company “a milestone in the 55 years of history of Chemship that will place the tanker operator at pole position of innovation in the chemical shipping industry.”
On February 16 a crowd of 180 stakeholders gathered on board of a fully electric event-boat to witness the “hoisting of the sails” of the vessel Chemical Challenger.
Although windpower is an ancient way of propulsion, the innovative “ventofoils” are groundbreaking technology and now Chemship expects to achieve an average of 10% CO2 reduction with these sails.
Niels Grotz, the chief executive, sees with wind assisted ship propulsion shipping returning to its roots: “As an avid sailor, I know the power of the wind. We will now harness this sustainable and free energy source on MT Chemical Challenger.
“With the VentoFoils, we will use less fuel and thus reduce CO2 emissions. For this vessel, we anticipate an annual CO2 reduction of 850 tonnes. This is equivalent to the yearly CO2 emissions of over 500 passenger cars,” he said.
“It was a pleasure to welcome so many visitors which showed the collective excitement and curiosity about this new technology. The “sails” are the most visible part of the solutions we have applied to reduce the CO2 footprint,” reads the short statement of Chemship.
“We trust this will encourage fellow shipowners in the chemical tanker segment to follow our example that we can jointly achieve our goal of “Setting Sail Towards Sustainable Shipping”, it is added by Chemship.
