Update: Louis Dreyfus Armateurs takes commission for 'entire fleet' of wind-assisted roros

Having published the details of its deal with Airbus in October 2023, France-headquartered Louis Dreyfus Armateurs awarded the wind-propulsion contract to Finland’s Norsepower in February 2024.

The Norsepower Rotor Sail is a version of the Flettner rotor that uses electric power to rotate the cylinder-shaped rotors on the deck, assisting the rotors in catching the wind to produce thrust and reduce fuel consumption, lowering emissions and costs.

The new low-emissions vessels, which will be used to ship aircraft components for Airbus, will each be powered by a combination of six, 35-m-tall Norsepower Rotor Sails and two dual-fuel engines running on marine diesel oil and e-methanol. 

30 October 2023

Louis Dreyfus Armateurs has been busy again in the wind-assisted propulsion space, notching a newbuildings commitment with Airbus as well as operating the base-case vessel in Airseas latest validation testing programme for its Seawing kite propulsion system.

The French shipowner has taken a commission from Airbus to build, own and operate a trio of roll-on/roll-off vessels that will replace the aircraft manufacturer’s existing fleet.

Saying the newbuildings are to be modern, low-emission and supported by wind-assisted propulsion, Airbus will charter them for exclusive use in transporting its aircraft parts across the Atlantic. Scheduled to enter between 2026 and 2030, the vessels are expected to more than halve the firm’s annual emissions, from 68,000 tonnes of CO2 currently, to 33,000 tonnes by 2030. This, Airbus says, will cut its industrial emissions by nearly two-thirds (63%) over its in-house baseline of 2015 and keep the firm "in line with the 1.5°C pathway of the Paris Agreement".

Each of the new vessels will be powered by a combination of six Flettner rotors - large, rotating cylinders that generate lift using wind and propel the ship forward - and two dual-fuel engines running on maritime diesel oil and e-methanol. Additionally, routeing software will optimise the vessels’ journey across the Atlantic, maximising wind propulsion and avoiding drag caused by adverse ocean conditions.

As it ramps up production of its A320 to 75 aircraft per month, Airbus said it will gradually replace the chartered vessels that ferry its aircraft subassemblies across the Atlantic between Saint-Nazaire, France, and its single-aisle aircraft final assembly line in Mobile, Alabama.