Rotor Sails On The World’s Largest Short Sea Ro-ro Vessel

Finnish cleantech company Norsepower has signed an agreement with Luxembourg-based shipping group CLdN. The scope is to install two tilting rotor sails onboard a 2018-built vessel.

Preparations are currently in progress and the installation anticipated to complete by December 2022.

Concept

The MV Delphine is a roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) vessel with a cargo capacity of close to 8,000 lane meters. It transits between the UK, Ireland, and Europe. Namely, MV Delphine should be the largest short sea RoRo vessel operating in the world today. Note that same applies to its sister vessel MV Celine.

With two 35mx5m rotor sails, Norsepower has estimated that the technology would achieve a fuel and emission reduction saving of between 7 to 10% for this vessel, depending on the route.

Note that, the Norsepower rotor sail solution is installable on new vessels or retrofitted on existing ships. Nonetheless, it is a modernized version of the Flettner rotor. Particularly, a spinning cylinder that uses the Magnus effect to harness wind power to thrust a ship. At the time of contract signing, this will mark the seventh vessel to have Norsepower’s rotor sails.

Different takes

“Seeing the interest grow in our tilting rotor sail design demonstrates how the industry is looking for proven, flexible solutions to lower carbon emissions and reduce fuel costs across a range of vessel sizes and operations… Norsepower’s rotor sail installation on the MV Delphine demonstrates how the use of clean technology can modernise and evolve the performance of fleets’ younger vessels to manage emissions and help to increase asset value. With fuel becoming increasingly expensive, making savings will also have a huge impact on commercial success.”
Tuomas Riski, CEO, Norsepower

“By investing in technologically advanced ships and terminals, CLdN enables its customers to improve their carbon footprint and support them at the same time in making their supply chains more efficient and robust. This demand for cleaner shipping is growing and we committ to making measurable progress… Installing two of Norsepower’s rotor sails will maximise our fuel and emissions savings on the MV Delphine, and this pilot project will help determine how the rotor sail technology could be rolled out on the current CLdN fleet and our new-build vessels. We look forward to the installation and subsequent results.”
Gary Walker, COO Shipping, CLdN

Key features

Moreover, the Norsepower rotor sail is the first third-party verified and commercially operational auxiliary wind propulsion technology for the global maritime industry. The solution is fully automated and detects whenever the wind is strong enough to deliver fuel and emission savings. Thus, at which point the rotor sails start automatically. Note that, this is the third installation of the tilting rotor sail function.

Source: Norsepower