Modern Windships; Phase 2

11. Environmental issues

Fuel Savings and Emissions
Suitable Trades and Cargoes
New Regulations

It is obvious that the main "raison d’être" for the modern WindShip project are the environmental issues. By replacing internal combustion engines with wind propulsion one is essentially making the WindShip sun-driven. By lowering the consumption of fossil fuels the emissions of CO₂ and other harmful pollutants are reduced. Yet this benefit has not been investigated during phase 2 of the project.

This seemingly odd omission was the result of the task commissioned. The goal of the presented study was to make as good a WindShip as possible, and then to make a hard commercial comparison with existing shipping. In the current economical models being used commercially environmental issues are not important. Simply put: there is no economical penalty for polluting the environment when transporting goods by sea. Since there is no commercial gain in using cleaner technology, the "environmental friendliness" parameter does not even enter in the economical calculations.

This is of course somewhat sad, since the main reason for the project does not get the attention it deserves. In phase 1 of the project there were two (2) pages devoted to "Environmental Accounts". In phase 2 we do not even evaluate the effects.

However, the absence of "pollution penalty" in today’s economical reality does not mean that it will stay that way forever. There is already today a growing debate regarding the intensified use of high-speed ferries. Leading politicians are talking about imposing some sort of C0₂-penalty on sea-transportation, in the same way that has already been done with land-based transportation.

The two pages devoted to the issue in phase 1 of the project consists of an embryo to what has become known as "life cycle analysis, LCA", or "life cycle cost" LCC. In this relatively new science one tries to calculate the total "cost" of the product, from production, over the economical life-span to the final scrapping. This "cost" also includes environmental "prices".

We realise that a complete life cycle analysis is a complicated and lengthy task. Never the less it is very important. On basis on such analysis one can make rational conclusions on what is beneficial for the environment, and what is not. It is our hope that in the future resources will be allocated to perform a LCA for a modern WindShip.

Fuel Savings and Emissions

The Mærsk Broker study indicates that there is little or no fuel saving in employing WindShips in the product tanker trade when sailing at 13 knots. Consequently, there are no environmental benefits. The question is henceforth; will it be possible to find trading areas where fuel savings and environmental advantages can be obtained?

As the Mærsk Broker study also indicates, lesser speed demands will result in considerably reductions in fuel costs, a decrease from 13 to 12 knots will thus result in a reduction in fuel costs of 27,7% and from 12 down to 11 knots, a reduction of 27,1%. Translated into fuel consumption, a reduction from 11 to 13 knots means an annual reduction of approximately 3.900 tonnes of HFO per vessel.

A reduction of speed will also result in a proportionally reduced annual transportation capacity, at least when measured in deadweight tonnes. If measured in cubic capacity, a speed reduction like the above described, will however not affect the annual transportation capacity at all, because the higher cubic capacity of the WindShip, approximately 22%, offsets the negative impact of reduced speed.

Suitable Trades and Cargoes

It is difficult to define trading routes with reasonable and well described wind conditions and combine these with light (low-density), voluminous cargoes. Identification of these trades and cargoes will require a separate study.

As an example of a possible marketplace for WindShips we use the transportation of specialised forest products like chips and wood-pellets. There is a growing market for bio-mass products to be used as fuel for power and heat generation purposes. A "match" between these products and WindShip-transportation seems both logical and obvious.

The probably beneficial results from such market niches could "pave the road" for an increased use of WindShips.

New Regulations

Onshore, in Europe especially within the EU-countries, tight rules on the emissions of road transportation are already enforced. Rules regulating the emissions of river transportation are under way. In Germany, for example, long term transportation contracts submitted by major companies are only given to forwarders that are able to document full compliance with all environmental rules.

In countries like Austria and Switzerland, only lorries fulfilling the most strict rules regarding cleanliness of fuel (sulphur content), emissions and particles are allowed driving licenses - the so-called "Super-Green"-licenses.

Similar trends can be observed in the shipping trade. Within the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) there is an ongoing discussion aiming at a reduction of the sulphur content in bunker oil.

The background for this is a growing public pressure on the shipping world to participate in solving world's environmental problems and the majority of advanced maritime nations seem also interested in meeting this demand.

In sensitive marine areas like the Baltic Sea and a number of American coastal areas there are to-day regulations which forbids the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO), only Marine Diesel Oil (MDO) are allowed. In some US West Coast ports, the use of auxiliary engines are forbidden. In Sweden, port costs are now graduated, such as vessels fulfilling environmental demands, will benefit from a reduction in these costs.

There is reason to believe that this trend will continue to grow.