Boomsma Shipping announced its general cargo vessel Frisian Sea has been fitted with wind-assisted propulsion units to help reduce the ship’s fuel usage and emissions as the shipping industry continues work to reduce its environmental footprint.
“We believe it is necessary and very important to meet sustainability challenges to reduce our environmental footprint. Together with the IMO decarbonization goals for 2050 we want to do our part to reduce our fuel consumption and CO2 emissions as soon as possible,” said Johan Boomsma, co-owner of Boomsma Shipping BV.
A number of wind propulsion technologies are gaining interest across the maritime sector as shipowners seek ways to meet the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) emissions reduction targets
Boomsma Shipping’s Dutch-flagged Frisian Sea was equipped with two eConowind VentiFoil units, designed as compact (non-rotating) wing profiles, creating thrust by means of the principle of boundary-layer-suction, for which ventilators are mounted inside the VentiFoils.
The 6477dwt vessel was equipped with the wind propulsion units during a port call in Harlingen, Netherlands, before its first wind-assisted voyage to Vasteras, Sweden. eConowind has been conducting start-up tests, and the system and operations will be optimized as crews are trained in the coming weeks.
Tessa Remery, project coordinator, said, “With the help of the Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion (WASP) project, part of the EU Interreg North Sea region program, we will now test the performance during the coming two years. This innovative technology has to work in our daily operations with various wind conditions. We hope to find savings to be in the region of 10%.“
The WASP (Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion) project is funded by the Interreg North Sea Europe program, part of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and brings together universities and wind-assist technology providers with ship owners to research, trial and validate the operational performance of a selection of wind propulsion solutions.
A new Flatrack design offers the flexibility of a container, being movable by the hatch crane, with limited installation time. With this system the units could potentially be used aboard several vessels, abd can be positioned just in front of the superstructure during loading, for example.
Ton Boomsma, co-owner and CTO of Boomsma Shipping, said, “The installation of the Flatrack solution was relatively easy. We now expect they will give optimal results on our ship. Once the crew gets some experience, we expect no trouble in handling the systems using our hatch cranes.”
Frank Nieuwenhuis, CEO of eConowind, said, “The new Flatrack design based on Boomsma’s concept will now be added to our product portfolio as a standard product and has the possibility for use on several vessels.”
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