The class has confirmed that the rigid, tiltable sail designed by the JV of Alfa Laval and Wallenius Marine encountered no showstoppers and can be further developed toward Type Approval and prototype assembly.
Oceanbird Wing 560 is 40 m tall & 14 m wide, offering 560 m2 sail area. It consists of a main sail and a flap, optimising the aerodynamic forces by creating a camber.
According to its developers, one wing sail on an existing ro-ro can, at normal speed, reduce fuel consumption from the main engine by 7-10% on favourable oceangoing routes, saving approx. 675k/year litres of diesel, which corresponds to approx. 1,920t/y of CO2.
Next year, the first Oceanbird Wing 560 will be mounted on one of Wallenius Wilhelmsen's ships.
"This is an important milestone for Oceanbird in our quest to cut emissions from shipping," underlined Niclas Dahl, Managing Director, Oceanbird.
He furthered, "It is one of the first stiff wing sails that will tilt in hard winds as a safety feature, that gets an Approval in Principle. Therefore, it is reassuring that DNV supports our safety philosophy since we are now going from vision into realisation. In just a few months, we will begin to assemble our first full-scale wing prototypes, which will be onboard a vessel in about one year from now."
"We're pleased to award Oceanbird the AiP [approval in principle] for their wind-assisted propulsion system (WAPS). Such systems hold promise in enhancing the efficiency of maritime operations, and partnerships like this play a significant role in moving the industry towards decarbonisation. With our extensive knowledge in this domain, DNV is eager to collaborate and foster the advancement of these innovations," said Hasso Hoffmeister, Senior Principal Engineer at DNV.
Mikael Razola, Oceanbird's Technical Director, added, "Safety is our first priority; therefore, we wanted DNV to do a comprehensive review of the design. The good collaboration with DNV has been very important for us. We are confident in our design, and this strengthens us into going into the next steps, which is a Type Approval and prototype assembly."
Photo: Oceanbird