Ocean Network Express orders two containerised units from Econowind for Wind-Assist propulsion

Singapore-based Ocean Network Express (ONE) has decided to install two containerised wind assist units on one of its operated container feeder ships before the end of 2023.

The 143m, 1036 TEU capacity ‘Kalamazoo’ is owned by Singapore-based Norse and the wind assist systems will be supplied by the Netherlands-based company, Econowind.

This is one of key initiatives of ONE’s operational cost optimisation project cluster, Sapphire + Project, and it can also contribute to the decarbonisation initiatives in ONE’s Green Strategy.

ONE will implement various collaboration and decarbonisation initiatives through actions with lean and agile methodology.
The two containerised units will be equipped with the latest wing design from Econowind, the ‘VentoFoil’. These have smart suction systems to control the airflow around the wing-shaped element ensuring maximal trust per surface area. The 10.5m x 2.8 m VentoFoil units will be able to generate thrust to save up to 400kW of engine power.

ONE, Norse and Econowind have studied wind assisted propulsion together and expect to contribute to the reduction of fuel oil consumption and have a positive effect over a wide range of operations.

“Reduction of GHG emissions is ONE’s top business priority,” Takashi Kase, Senior Vice President of ONE said. “This first wind assist system utilisation will be a great milestone to our goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.”

“Norse is proud to be a partner of ONE and Econowind on this wind assisted propulsion project, targeting greener shipping in the years to come,” Sebastian Roed, Director of Norse added.

“We are delighted to add ONE to our customer base as the first Asian partner, making a big step in making shipping more sustainable,” Frank Nieuwenhuis, CEO of Econowind also commented. “The more installations we can retrofit, the more data we can attain and learn from. This provides us with solid proof of how wind assisted ship propulsion is reducing emissions per nautical mile and with vessels improving their EEXI / EEDI. This also serves as a justification for the investment; the costs of systems can be covered by the savings generated.”