MOL to study installation of a hard sail on a coal carrier
Written by Nick Blenkey
Coal carrier equipped with hard sail
File this one under “why bother?” Or under “every little helps.”
Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. are moving ahead with a joint study on installation of the Wind Challenger hard sail system on a coal carrier. Studies indicate that use of the system would substantially reduce a vessel’s fuel consumption with a reduction in GHG emissions of about 5% on a Japan-Australia voyage.
The Wind Challenger telescoping hard sail has been under development since 2009 and MOL and Oshima Shipbuilding received approval in principle (AIP) for the system from ClassNK earlier this month.
The decision by MOL and Tohoku Electric to go ahead with the study putting the Wind Challenger on coal carriers comes after recent confirmation that a vessel equipped with the system would be
acceptable in the port facilities at the electric company’s coal-fired power plants
The aim is to launch the world’s first vessel equipped with the Wind Challenger after 2022.
Categories: Environment, News
