France’s Louis Dreyfus commits to retrofitting eSails to two of its vessels – a RoRo and a fruit juice carrier
Louis Dreyfus’s Ville de Bordeaux is the first RoRo vessel to be retrofitted with the eSail system (Source: Louis Dreyfus)
French shipowner Louis Dreyfus has fully endorsed the wind propulsion system designed and supplied by Spain’s bound4blue by contracting the Barcelona-based specialist to supply its unique eSail system to two of its fleet.
The specialist RoRo vessel Ville de Bordeaux has just returned to service after having the eSail system fitted, while the French company’s chartered fruit juice carrier Atlantic Orchard will be fitted with the system later in 2024.
Ville de Bordeaux is the first RoRo ship to be retrofitted with suction sails after re-entering service on March 3rd after three 22m high eSails were installed at the Vigo yard of Spain’s MetalShips & Docks. This RoRo is on long-term charter (20 years plus an option of a further ten years) to Airbus Industries and used for the transport of components for the A320 family of aircraft from Europe to Airbus’ US factory in Mobile, Alabama.
The fast installation process of the eSails in Vigo involved minimal downtime for the vessel, and contributes to Airbus’ target to halve its CO2 emissions from its maritime logistics operations by 2030 versus a 2015 baseline. Moreover, wind-assisted propulsion is a key decarbonisation solution that can assist Louis Dreyfus reach its goal of net-zero GHG emissions by 2050.
The 2004-built, 1,805 lanemetre capacity Ville de Bordeaux is bound4blue’s fourth ship project and the first of a fixed suction sail on a RoRo vessel. It also proves that suction sails can be fitted on ships with a high weatherdeck and large windage area, meeting the required stability criteria.
Each eSail is claimed to generate six to seven times more lift than a conventional sail, thanks to an electric-powered air suction system that helps the airflow to re-adhere to the sail. All this force allows for the reduction of the load on the vessel’s main engines.
Meanwhile, Louis Dreyfus is to retrofit another eSail system on its chartered 2014-built 34,584dwt fruit juice carrier Atlantic Orchard later this year, at an unnamed shipyard. This former bulk carrier, which was converted into a fruit juice carrier by China’s Chengxi Shipyard, will be retrofitted with four 26m-high eSails in collaboration with her Swedish owners, Wisby Tankers AB. The eSail system is expected to return a 10% saving in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, depending on the vessel’s routing.
The decision by Louis Dreyfus to implement this wind power technology was based on a third party assessment study undertaken by Lloyd’s Register, which evaluated a range of solutions and identified bound4blue’s suction sails as the most promising.
