Atlanpole company develops wind powered container ship

Zéphyr & Borée, a company based at Atlanpole (France) company, has just presented a project to bring wind propulsion to container ships.

Wind propulsion on container ships is technically complex, and must take account of the challenges of deck cargo, loading operations, and forward visibility. However, the companies that are most committed to decarbonising their supply chain must still transport their products, especially manufactured products, by container ship.

To meet this demand, the Zéphyr & Borée team worked throughout 2020 to develop the world's first sailing container ship, in a project called Meltem. Meltem is a 185m container ship equipped with 8 rigid wings, which reduces the carbon footprint by 80% on a transatlantic journey at a speed of 11 knots.

The French firm has also developed a 121 m long sailing cargo vessel Canopée, which will transport Ariane 6 rockets from Europe to the launch site in Kourou in French Guyana. The vessel will be equipped with four 30 m high Oceanwings from VPLP design delivering around 35% savings on fuel consumption. Once delivered at the end of 2022 from Dutch shipyard Neptune Marine, the vessel will be operated by Alizés, a joint venture of Zephyr & Borée and its compatriot Jifmar Offshore Services.

Those of you who joined us at IASP Nantes in 2019, hosted by Atlanpole, might remember Zéphyr & Borée from the exhibition area, where the team was on hand to present their work; eagle-eyed readers might spot their booth in one of the conference photos on the IASP homepage!

To learn more about Atlanpole and their innovative companies, visit https://www.atlanpole.com/.