German ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd is working on wind-assisted container ship propulsion project trying to figure out how this could work in technical terms.
At the beginning of the year, Hapag-Lloyd and its partner, the yachtsman Boris Herrmann and his Team Malizia, launched a concept study for a 4,500 TEU vessel with a state-of-the-art wind-assisted propulsion system.
“Some shipping companies have come up with concept designs for wind-powered container ships that look very futuristic. But, to me, our designs seem more realistic,” said Martin Köpke, Manager of Regulatory Affairs & Sustainability at Hapag-Lloyd.
The first phase of the project was completed in May giving an initial impression of what this kind of ship could look like, while the second phase, which commenced in the summer, is still ongoing.
“We are using computer simulations to study how this kind of ship would behave under realistic weather conditions in a trade and how much energy we could save there with the support of a sail system. As part of this, we are also looking at the potential of weather-based route optimisation. On top of that, sensitivity analyses are being carried out,” explains Christoph Thiem, Director of Strategic Assets Projects at Hapag-Lloyd.
“For example, we let the ship sail much more slowly in the simulation and then see how much energy we have saved. We also vary the draughts and see how the ship behaves when it isn’t fully loaded. And we are also investigating what happens if, for example, a sail is damaged or can’t be used,” he added.
Hapag-Lloyd’s concept is a potential newbuilding of a ship with a capacity of 4,500 TEUs with the current design envisaging eight sails with a total sail area of 3,000 m².
The six rear sails will be extendable and the two front ones retractable. “This helps to not hinder cargo operations in port and to protect the sail system from damage as well as to avoid any limitations owing to things like bridges,” noted Thiem.
The boxship, according to Thiem, will mainly be propelled by its engine, and the sail system will only be used to assist propulsion.
The extent of assistance the sail system can provide depends on several factors, such as the ship’s speed and the wind conditions. At slow speeds of 8 to 10 knots (15 to 20 km/h) and with the right wind conditions, the ship can also be propelled using just the sail system, according to Thiem, who, however, pointed out that they have not explored all aspects of this yet.
Thiem said, “At the moment, we’re working with historical weather data for the Conosur service, which sails around South America. Next, we’ll be looking at other shipping routes to figure out how we could realise more benefits on other routes using this kind of sailing system.”
Hapag-Lloyd plans to finalise the concept study in the next few months, and, according to the results, will decide its next steps on the project.
