This is a very interesting project: it is a cargo ship to which large sails have been added to be able to navigate consuming around 30% less fuel, and therefore also polluting less.
The ship is called Pyxis Ocean and it is a cargo ship with sails that can revolutionize a part of the shipping industry. The boat is equipped with two WindWings, which are rigid structures that unfold to harness the energy of the wind. WindWings sails allow the Pyxis Ocean to reduce its fuel consumption by 30%, making it one of the most efficient boats in its class.
The Pyxis Ocean is the result of a collaboration between the shipping company Cargill, the engineering firm BAR Technologies and the University of Southampton. The metal sail system has been designed in England and manufactured in China, and the boat was also built in China and launched in 2023.
The Pyxis Ocean has a cargo capacity of 5,000 tons and can sail at a speed of 15 knots. The ship is equipped with a dual propulsion system using diesel engines and WindWings, and with those sails it could save on the order of 1.5 tons of fuel every day, meaning less cost and less pollution.
The first voyages of the Pyxis Ocean will take place between Singapore and Brazil, and the ship is scheduled to stop at various ports along the way, where engineers from Cargill and BAR Technologies will collect performance data from it.
The Pyxis Ocean is an important step in the transition to more sustainable shipping, and those responsible hope to demonstrate that it is possible to use wind power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping industry.
The Pyxis Ocean is a prototype, but Cargill (one of the largest shipping companies with over 600 ships) intends to build more ships like this in the future, and the company expects ships with sails to be an important part of its fleet for years to come.
A video can be seen at: https://youtu.be/KNZlQXBvQCk
The success of the Pyxis Ocean could usher in a new era in the shipping industry. Ships with sails could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make shipping more sustainable.
In fact, this project has aroused the interest of other shipping companies, and several of them have expressed interest in building similar ships. Because today all companies are interested in being as sustainable as possible while remaining economically profitable.
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