EMEA News
B9 Building Bunker Fuel-Free Cargo Ship
Work is underway to build a full-scale, modern day, bunker fuel-free cargo ship.
By switching away from fossil-fuels, B9 Shipping wants to help ship operators combat rising bunker prices and meet the need to reduce emissions, with the firm's website saying oil prices are "unstable and increasing" and that "bunker fuel generates alarming amounts of particulates threatening human health in coastal locations."
The Northern Ireland based firm is aiming for the vessels to be a commercially viable alternative to the existing generation of oil powered cargo carriers, saying that they deliver competitive freight rates and equal performance against schedules of conventional oil powered ships.
The design, which is by Rob Humphreys whose company Humphreys Yacht Design has its roots in the design of racing yachts, combines several technologies that B9 Shipping says are all proven and readily available.
Multiple sails using the free standing and free rotating DynaRig system are controlled electronically, rather than being handled by the crew, and there are no lines on deck that could potentially impair the loading or discharge of cargo.
Designed in the 1960s by German inventor Wilhelm Prolls, the DynaRig sail system is currently in use on the 289 ft Perini Navi built sailing yacht, The Maltese Falcon.
Using historical data from the Met Office, the United Kingdom's national weather service, the company says they predict being able to use wind power 60% of the time.
Methane Fuel
When additional thrust is needed, the ship has a carbon neutral methane powered engine from Rolls-Royce.
The methane fuel, known as Biogas and made by B9 Energy Group's B9 Organic Energy division, is produced from the anaerobic digestion of food waste.
The hulls employ a steel plate construction process, which B9 Shipping say is more efficient and allows any 'off-cuts' to remain at the smelting facility to be re-processed.
The company also aims to use steel from recycled ships.
"We're combining proven technologies in a novel way to develop 'ready-to-go' future-proof and 100 per cent fossil fuel free ships," said Diane Gilpin, a Director of B9 Shipping.
"We are designing B9 Ships holistically as super-efficient new builds transferring technology from offshore yacht racing combined with the most advanced commercial naval architecture," she added.
The testing programme is being conducted at the University of Southampton's Wolfson Unit for Marine Technology and Industrial Aerodynamics (WUMTIA).
Earlier today, Gilpin tweeted pictures of a B9 ship in test at the facility with "the wind in her sails."
