Mitsui O.S.K Lines (MOL) has unveiled an agreement with Oshima Shipbuilding, Iknow Machinery on joint research and development (R&D) to build and utilise a sail for cargo handling on ships and similar equipment.
In a statement, MOL said the joint R&D Delta Sail project is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vessels by utilising offshore winds to provide additional propulsion force.
Many of the carrier’s drybulk vessels are already equipped with cargo handling cranes and it plans to study the installation of the Delta Sail on a wide range of ship types, such as bulkers, wood chip carriers and multi-purpose vessels.
Through five initiatives, MOL group is working to achieve the Medium-to long-term targets in the ‘MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.1’, including “achieve net zero GHG emissions by 2050.”
Through this joint R&D project, MOL group strives to reduce GHGs in clean energy supply chains with industrial leaders by one of the initiatives “Enhancement of Energy-Saving Technologies in addition to our existing environment-friendly technologies using offshore winds such as Wind Challenger/Wind Hunter Project.
According to MOL, the Wind Challenger Project has the potential to cut greenhouse gas emissions from between 5-8% by reducing bunker oil consumption through the use of a telescoping hard sail that converts win energy to propulsive force.
MOL has already placed an order with Oshima Shipbuilding for construction of the first vessel to be equipped with the Wind Challenger—a coal carrier, slated to start operation in 2022 supplying Tohoku Electric Power Co.,Inc.
