IWSA: wind-powered cargo capacity surpasses 1M dwt

Commenting on these developments, IWSA said, “What was once romanticised as a historic way to sail cargo across the world’s oceans has become a credible option for modern vessels, fuelled by incoming carbon reduction targets and high fuel prices.”

According to IWSA, 21 large commercial vessels have wind propulsion systems installed on board, representing over 1M dwt of cargo-carrying capacity. And that figure will rise to 25 vessels by the end of the year.

Ten small cruise ships currently use traditional soft-sail technology, representing a further 50,000 gt, and IWSA said it expects the number of small vessels using wind propulsion to grow in the next year as more vessels are converted to sail.

Although wind power only helps shave a small percentage (between 5-10%) of fuel use and emissions, IWSA Secretary General Gavin Allwright believes, “The savings potential is even higher for vessels that use primary wind technologies to achieve much higher levels of propulsive energy sourced from wind.”

More crucially, Mr Allwright said an increase in industry uptake will help bring the price of wind propulsion down. 

“With 50 wind propulsion system rigs installed to-date on those 21 ships, and an anticipated 100 rigs installed milestone to be passed by the end of 2023, the price of propulsion technology is coming down. Reaching the 100 rigs installed milestone will represent an important market marker for wind propulsion technology in particular. At this point, we can expect a sustained reduction in return-on-investment timeframes, especially if fuel prices remain high.”

Based on public announcements and shipyard orders made to-date, IWSA estimates that by the end of 2023, up to 50 large ships will use wind as a renewable energy source with a combined tonnage of over 3M dwt.

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