Becker Marine Systems has completed sea trials of its Anti-Drift Daggerboard technology on an Airbus wind-assisted cargo vessel designed to transport aircraft components across the Atlantic.
The 168 m vessel, Spirit of Toulouse, was built for shipping company Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) and features six 35 m Flettner rotors supplied by Norsepower, Becker Marine Systems said in a press release yesterday.
The rotors harness wind energy to provide additional thrust, while Becker's daggerboards counteract the sideways forces generated by the system, helping convert more wind energy into forward propulsion.
Each foldable daggerboard has a surface area of 8.8 square metres, with the system designed to generate a lift force of 300 kN per vessel.
The Spirit of Toulouse is one of three wind-assisted RoRo vessels commissioned by Airbus. The company expects the fleet to cut annual CO2 emissions from its transatlantic shipping operations by more than half by 2030, compared with 2023 levels.
