French shipping company Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) will equip one of its ro/ro vessels with a permanently installed kite system from Airseas to lower the greenhouse gas emissions of the ship. 

The decision of the shipping company, which operates a fleet of more than 100 vessels worldwide, follows a search for ways to significantly reduce emissions together with its customer Airbus. Tests with the Airseas kite system delivered positive results. Louis Dreyfus even claims that the technology can deliver “double digit savings for retrofit installations” and adds that for optimised new builds “significantly higher savings make a lot of sense.”

As a result, the shipping company will permanently install a kite system on its 21,500 dwt ro/ro vessel MV Ville de Bordeaux from 2020 onwards. This ro/ro cargo vessel is dedicated to the transport of Airbus parts around Europe.

Additionally, Louis Dreyfus has also initiated the design of a large transoceanic ro/ro vessel with full integration of wind-assisted propulsion to maximize the benefits of a kite system.

Windships

The company plans to continue development work in this field and has joined the International Windship Association (IWSA). “We are very excited by the development of wind solutions as a key answer to the decarbonisation challenges we are facing today and it is only natural for us to join the International Windship Association in its drive to further develop these technologies,” LDA President Edouard Louis-Dreyfus says.

The International Windship Association is a member-driven non-profit association and works with the industry, policymakers and regulators to further innovation, development and market uptake of wind propulsion for commercial shipping.

IWSA secretary-general Gavin Allwright says: “Wind-assist and primary wind propulsion are increasingly being viewed as a credible, viable and economical option and we look forward to working with the LDA team to further the uptake of 21st-century wind propulsion solutions for the commercial fleet.”