The world’s first oil-carrying tanker powered by wind power has set out on its maiden voyage. This oil tanker named “Chemical Challenger” departed from the port of Antwerp.
A ship has left Rotterdam port as a big hope to reduce carbon footprint in the shipping industry.
This ship named MT Chemical Challenger is an oil tanker whose owner hopes that this journey will prove to be a milestone in solving the problem of carbon emissions plaguing the shipping industry.
MT Chemical Challenger is a chemical carrying ship which can carry 16 thousand tonnes of chemical at one time. On Friday, it left from Antwerp in Belgium for Istanbul in Turkey.
It will undergo sea trials en route. This ship has been built in Japan. There are four 16 meter i.e. about 53 feet high fans installed on top of it. These are just like the wings of an aircraft.
The ship company hopes that the energy generated from these windmills will improve fuel consumption by 10 to 20 percent. Niels Grotts, chief executive of Chemship, a company that transports chemicals from the US to the Mediterranean, said, “I am a passionate sailor myself. For a long time I have been thinking about how to make our industry more environmentally friendly.
Today we have launched our first chemical tanker, which runs on wind energy. We hope that this will become an example for the world. The target is tough The shipping industry is one of the most notorious industries in terms of carbon emissions.
All types of oils, including diesel, are used in the fuel of ships. According to the International Energy Agency, two percent of the total carbon emissions in 2022 were due to this industry.
Efforts are being made worldwide to reduce emissions in the shipping industry. The International Maritime Organization has set a target to reduce the carbon emissions of the industry by 40 percent by 2030.
If the goal of the Paris Agreement is to be achieved, it is necessary for the carbon emissions of the shipping industry to be zero by 2050. Because of this, the construction and demand for ships that are more environmentally friendly is increasing. Grotts admits that this task is not easy. He says, “Competition in shipping is very high and achieving these targets will be very difficult. But we have to reduce CO2 emissions. And we decided that sitting idle and waiting for a miracle would not do.
Emissions will be reduced equivalent to 500 cars. According to Grotz, he will not get any financial benefit from the ship’s maiden voyage. Chemship said in a statement, “With this ship’s voyage, we are expecting an annual reduction (of carbon emissions) of 850 tonnes, which is equivalent to the carbon emissions of 500 cars every year.
Grotts says that the idea of running the ship on wind power was born three years ago when he discussed it with a Dutch company Econowind. Econowind makes propulsion systems for ships.
Just last week, the installation of four windmills on the Chemical Challenger was completed in Rotterdam. By the way, this is not the first time that a windmill has been installed on a ship.
Last year, a British company Cargill also ran one of its ships on wind energy. Chemship says that their ship is the first chemical tanker which is being run on wind energy.
The technology used in this is also different from before. Its fans are made from solid aluminum with vents and vents to withstand high airflow.
These fans can withstand wind speed of 61 kilometers per hour. “This system is called ventilated wingsail,” says Rens Groot, sales manager of Econowind.
It can amplify wind power up to five times and produce the same amount of energy as a 30×30 meter fan.