Posts
By Will Ockenden
Thursday, 10/07/2008
Centuries ago, shipping merchants harnessed the power of the wind to move their cargo.While it's long been replaced by fuel, the increasing cost of oil means companies once again investigating using the wind to reduce transport costs.A company in Germany has invented a kite-like device to help power cargo ships.Managing Director of SkySails Stephan Wrage says that it can slash the use of oil by 35 percent. "We have huge giant kites that save cargo ships a lot of oil," he said. "The saving vary from ship to ship, but 160 meter long vessel needs as much as 30 tonnes of oil a day. If you compare that to a house, it takes 2 tonnes of oil a year to heat that house, so they use a lot of oil.""If you have perfect wind on a 300 square meter kite on a 10,000 tonne vessel, you can gain as much as a 50 percent saving, but the weather's not always good, so that's why we think it's a 10 to 35 percent saving for the year," he said.Ship owners are looking at new technologies, because of potential cost savings. "Regulations from the International Maritime Organisation require owners need to reduce emissions, so that's good for us," he said.
In this report: Managing Director of SkySails Stephan Wrage
Thursday, 10/07/2008
Centuries ago, shipping merchants harnessed the power of the wind to move their cargo.While it's long been replaced by fuel, the increasing cost of oil means companies once again investigating using the wind to reduce transport costs.A company in Germany has invented a kite-like device to help power cargo ships.Managing Director of SkySails Stephan Wrage says that it can slash the use of oil by 35 percent. "We have huge giant kites that save cargo ships a lot of oil," he said. "The saving vary from ship to ship, but 160 meter long vessel needs as much as 30 tonnes of oil a day. If you compare that to a house, it takes 2 tonnes of oil a year to heat that house, so they use a lot of oil.""If you have perfect wind on a 300 square meter kite on a 10,000 tonne vessel, you can gain as much as a 50 percent saving, but the weather's not always good, so that's why we think it's a 10 to 35 percent saving for the year," he said.Ship owners are looking at new technologies, because of potential cost savings. "Regulations from the International Maritime Organisation require owners need to reduce emissions, so that's good for us," he said.
In this report: Managing Director of SkySails Stephan Wrage
No comments:
Post a Comment