Newbuild Vale VLOC Revealed as Bulk Carrier Getting Five Tilting Rotor Sails – gCaptain gcaptain.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gcaptain.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
(Photo: Vale)
Brazilian miner Vale expects to soon put into service the first-ever bulk carrier propelled partially sails, the company said on Thursday.
The rotor sail-equipped newbuild, a very large ore carrier (VLOC) named Sea Zhoushan, is being built in China for owner by Pan Ocean Ship Management and will be chartered by Vale upon delivery in the coming days. Not only is Sea Zhoushan the first bulk carrier to be fitted with rotor sails, the 340-meter, 325,000 dwt vessel is also the largest ship ever to be outfitted with the fuel-saving and emissions-reducing technology, said manufacturer Norsepower.
The Finnish company estimates the five rotor sails installed on the deck of the Sea Zhoushan will enable an 8% efficiency gain and consequent reduction of up to 3,400 tons of CO2 per year. The cylindrical sails are 4 meters in diameter and 24 meters high, and they can be tilted by using hydraulic cylinders. The five tilting rotor sails will allow Vale to maintain flexible cargo op
Norsepower Announces Installation Of Five Tiltable Rotor Sails On A Vloc Chartered By Vale
Norsepower Oy Ltd., the leading global provider of auxiliary wind propulsion systems, today announced the installation of five tilting Rotor Sails onboard a newbuild Very Large Ore Carrier (VLOC) chartered by Vale, the Brazilian mining company. The first installation of Norsepower’s innovative Rotor Sails on a bulk carrier demonstrates the adaptability of the technology to reduce fuel consumption, fuel costs and reduce emissions across a variety of vessel types.
The new vessel, a 325,000 dwt VLOC is owned by Pan Ocean Ship Management and will be chartered by Vale after construction is completed in China. To enable efficient cargo operations, the five 24m high and 4m diameter Rotor Sails can be tilted by using hydraulic cylinders.
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Finnish technology firm Norsepower has completed testing of one of its “Rotor Sails” onboard the Viking Grace.
Installed in 2018, the MS Viking Grace was the first passenger vessel to be fitted with the technology as a means of reducing vessel’s environmental impact by harnessing the power of the wind.
Norsepower’s Rotor Sail solution is the first third-party verified and fully commercialized mechanical sail. It is a modernized version of a Flettner rotor, a spinning cylinder that uses the Magnus effect to harness wind power to propel a ship.
The testing period for the Viking Grace was completed in April and the results have been independently validated by ABB, Chalmers University, and NAPA, in addition to Norsepower’s own analysis. The results confirmed that the Rotor Sail reduces power consumption between 207-315 kW equalling 231-315 tons of fuel per year, which was well in-line with original target of the project, according to Norsepower.
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 16, 2021
2 comments
In 1926, a 2,000-ton steel-hulled schooner named
Buckau made an extraordinary crossing across the Atlantic. Although the
Buckau was technically a sailing ship, it had no sails at least, not conventional ones.
Rather than thin masts and billowing sheets of white, the
Buckau had two huge cylinders that rose from its deck and spun. By a physical phenomenon called the Magnus Effect, the spinning poles generated a propulsive force that carried the ship forward. It’s the same force that footballers use to bend a corner kick, cricketers use to swing a delivery, and a tennis player use to hang the ball just a little longer in the air.