VIDEO: Oceanbird starts the sales phase for its wing sail

Written by Nick Blenkey

Photo: Oceanbird

Following a successful shoreside demonstration of its 40-meter high wing sail back in August, the Alfa Laval and Wallenius joint venture Oceanbird has now moved into the sales phase.

“We’re entering into the market at an interesting time. We have competition, but the potential is enormous since we are working with an emerging technology that is moving up the adoption curve,” said Jean-Charles Lecuyer, global sales manager at Oceanbird.

To enhance production capacity and quality, Oceanbird is exploring expansion into China.

“China is a key player in shipping and manufacturing, and we recognize the need to be there, both to reach volume and maintain quality standards. We are actively looking for partners to ensure that we have an assembly hub up and running by 2027,” said Karl-Erik Sax, operations and supply chain manager at Oceanbird.

The Oceanbird 560 wing sail looks a lot different from the initial concepts shown at the time the joint venture was formed.

It is named after its size: 560 square meters and, says the company, “It has more in common with airplane wings than traditional sails. Therefore, aerodynamics are important in developing the concept,” says the company. The wing consists of a main sail and a flap, optimizing the aerodynamics forces. When entering harbors, passing under bridges or if the surface area needs to be reduced due to strong winds, the smaller segment folds into the other before the whole wing sail is tilted.”’

Height: 40 meters (131 feet)
Width: 14 meters (46 feet) Total sail area: 560 square meters (6,028 square feet)
Two segments: Consists of a main sail and a flap, optimizing the aerodynamic forces by creating camber
Materials: High strength steel, glass fiber and recycled PET
Safety philosophy: Always tiltable, even in strong winds and during black-outs
Actuation: Variable hydraulic drive
Energy consumption: Low (passive system)
Performance: One wing sail on an existing RO/RO vessel at normal speed, can reduce fuel consumption from main engine by 7-10 % on favorable oceangoing routes, says Oceanbird. This means a saving of 600 tons of diesel per year, which corresponds to approx. 2,000 tons of CO2