Asia/Pacific News
MOL Takes Delivery of Wind-Assisted Propulsion Vessel
Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has taken delivery of a vessel Prima Verde equipped with two sails.
Built by Onomichi Dockyard, the Prima Verde is designed to operate solely on MGO and wind propulsion, MOL stated on its website last week.
The Liberia-flagged vessel features two VentoFoil sails supplied by Econowind, which help reduce bunker fuel consumption.
Rotor sails, also known as Flettner rotors, use the Magnus effect to generate thrust and assist vessel propulsion.
As the shipping industry seeks to cut fuel costs and emissions, more global shipowners are adopting wind-assisted propulsion. Some of these systems claim to deliver fuel savings of 5-10%.
These rotor sails can be installed on newbuilds or retrofitted on existing ships.
The vessel will be used to transport general steel cargo, construction machinery, heavy machinery and bulk cargo.
