Cargill Tests 123-Foot-Tall Sails in Effort to Slash Fuel Burn
The biggest agricultural trader in the world turns to an old-tech solution as commercial shipping looks for ways to clean up its act.
The world’s largest agricultural trader hauls 225 million tons of cargo around the globe each year on hundreds of colossal vessels. Now one of those ships is being powered, in part, by wind.
The Pyxis Ocean, an 80,000-ton bulk carrier chartered by commodity giant Cargill Inc., just finished her maiden voyage from Shanghai to Singapore after the installation of two massive steel and composite-glass “sails.” It’s the first ship to be retrofitted with two WindWings, each 37.5 meters (123 feet) high. They can cut the vessel’s fuel use by roughly a fifth, designer BAR Technologies says. If the trial goes well, Cargill hopes to add sails to as many as 10 more vessels.