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This weeks Interesting Ship is brought to us by MarineBuzz.com:

Thanks to increasing oil prices! Here comes E-Ship 1 from ‘Enercon’, one of the world’s leading companies in the wind energy sector from Germany. E-Ship 1 uses wind energy to cut down fuel costs and also helps to reduce emissions. Unlike Beluga Skysail which uses a huge parasail, E-Ship 1 uses four giant 25 metre high, 4 metre in diameter, rotating, vertical metal sailing rotors positioned two fore and two aft to harness wind energy. The sailing rotors are also called as Flettner rotors.

Here are some interesting features of E-Ship 1:

• Sailing rotors use wind energy to propel the ship and works on the the principle of Magnus effect named after German physicist, Heinrich Gustav Magnus .
• This concept was demonstrated by a German physicist Anton Flettner in 1924.
• The alphabet E stands for: ENERCON, Electro-technology, Environment, Economy, Ecology and the alphabet E also implies: Energy, Earth, Endurance, Encouragement, Experience, Experiment.
• Ship is under construction at Lindenau GmbH shipyards , Kiel and on August 02, ship naming and launching ceremonies took place.
• E-Ship 1 is expected to be delivered by December this year.
• The E-Ship’s main components such as sailing rotors, the highly efficient main engines, and the ship’s streamlined silhouette (above and below the water line) are developed directly by Enercon engineers.
• E-Ship 1 has been designed to cut down fuel costs by 30 percent.
• Technical data of E-Ship 1: [Continue Reading →]

Just over a month since the “little red ship” M/V Expoloer sunk in icy antarctic waters a second “Eco”-tourism cruise ship has hit an iceberg.

Global-National tells us:

BUENOS AIRES — A Norwegian cruise ship with more than 300 people on board struck an iceberg as it drifted in the waters of Antarctica after an engine failure, Argentine officials said today.

The MS Fram carrying 256 passengers and 70 crew members suffered a breakdown in its propulsion system on Friday, said marine police in the port of Ushuaia on the southern tip of Argentina.

“None of the passengers or crew were injured, there was no reported damage to the hull or spills, and there is no danger of sinking,” a spokesman added.

The ship “was carried into a wall of ice” after it suffered a two-hour blackout in the area known as Browns Buff, north of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The incident was earlier confirmed by the ship’s owner Hurtigruten, which said it had suffered “no major damage.”  Continue Reading…

Header image by Luís Miguel Correia:

We are always on the lookout for “green” stories so were pleased when a friend forwarded a link to Skysails, a German based company looking to augment tradition ship propulsion systems with kites.

SkySails tells us:

SkySails is now offering a wind propulsion system based on large towing kites, which, for the first time, meets the requirements of shipping companies.

 

By using the SkySails-System, a ship‘s fuel costs can be reduced by 10- 35% on annual average, depending on wind conditions. Under optimal wind conditions, fuel consumption can temporarily be reduced by up to 50%. Even on a small, 87 metre cargo ship, savings of up to 280,000 euros can be made annually.

They are not the only company trying to harness the power of wind to propel ship, San Francisco base KiteShip.com a maker of kites for sailboats, is also trying expand into the commercial shipping industry.

“KiteShip is also working on marine applications as diverse as towing oil rigs and other large marine structures, diverting icebergs from oil platforms in high latitudes and in autonomous robot towing of relatively safe cargo such as bagged water,liquid fructose and the like.”

Both companies have tested the technology with (according to them) success. gCaptain will be bringing you more on this story in the future, so stay tuned.

Note: We have updated this post in a comprehensive look at Green Ship Propulsion

Here’s a video showing how the system works;

 

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