Beluga Shipping
It’s a simple equation; lower operational costs mean a better bottom line. Beluga Shipping is experimenting with a new idea that uses the second-oldest form of sea-going propulsion – a good sail and a strong wind.
Sky sailing
It’s a no-brainer that a massive organization can make massive savings from the smallest improvements. That led the Beluga Group, a global shipping company, to trial SkySails in early 2008. In a twelve thousand mile round trip from Germany to Venezuela, the US and Norway, they used a 160 square meter towing kite in conjunction with the ship’s engines. At sea for nearly two months, the towing kite offset up to twenty percent of the engine’s power (and carbon emissions), saving $1000 per day in fuel costs.
“We can once again actually ‘sail’ with cargo ships, thus opening a new chapter in the history of commercial shipping.”
The German-based company SkySails developed the system which includes a towing kite with rope, a launch and recovery system, and a control system for automatic operation. The sails are shaped like a paraglider, and can be used in winds of between seven to forty knots (8-48mph) with winds from all directions except 50 degrees on either side of a head wind. SkySails are set up to be used dynamically, in a constant figure-8 motion that can generate up to three times more power per square meter of sail area.
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