The French shipowner Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) has been working with the Spanish tech company for more than three years and will now equip one of its vessels with three eSAIL systems.

The installation, due to take place in 2023, was also possible thanks to securing financing from the European Innovation Council Acceleration Program.

"We pay particular attention to the decarbonization of all our ships and are taking a proactive approach to study, develop and adopt solutions in this direction. Our ship project management, engineering and innovation teams have been working for more than three years in partnership with bound4blue to implement an innovative and environmentally virtuous solution to assist in the propulsion of our ships. With the eSAIL® system, the sail propulsion will take the form of boundary layer suction wing profiles and will take advantage of the apparent wind encountered by the vessel to generate additional thrust. This device should make it possible to generate substantial fuel savings," Kamil Beffa, LDA's CEO, commented.

bound4blue's solution has already been installed onboard the theatre vessel La Naumon (one 18 m high sail) and the general cargo ship EEMS Traveller (two 17 m).

Photo: bound4blue