UK-based GT Wings says that it expects to finalise commercial orders for its AirWings wind-assisted propulsion system (WAPS) within the next 12 months.
Developed and manufactured in the UK by GT Wings under the UK government’s Innovate UK framework, the company describes its AirWings technology as a ‘rigid sail’ system using ‘cutting edge wingsail hybrid technology’.
As previously reported by Bunkerspot, the system has been installed on Carisbrooke Shipping’s MV Vectis Progress as part of a full-scale demonstrator project. The cargo ship set sail from Hull in the UK at the beginning of March on a voyage to Canada via Spain. It has since completed two transatlantic voyages and is currently in the process of wrapping up a third.
Speaking at an event at Norton Rose Fulbright’s London HQ last week to officially launch the technology, GT Wings’ CEO, George Thompson, said it is currently gathering ‘a huge amount’ of data from the crossings. The company expects the technology to generate 5%-30% fuel savings and carbon emissions – however, Thompson said it was too soon to go into specific results at this stage.
‘Because this is shipping, we are being extremely conservative and we won’t share anything until we have got full validation by a third party,’ said Thompson.
‘We are working with Lloyd’s Register to get their rubber stamp on the data before we share anything publicly.
‘But the current few trips have been very exciting. I did the first one, it was pretty “fruity” at times – getting up to about 60 knots of windspeed – but exciting times and exciting progress.’
This excitement was echoed by GT Wings’ Product Director, Martin Harrop, during a panel session which featured several of the stakeholders involved in the project.
‘We’re now open for business and, yes, we do have some enquiries which hopefully are not too far away in terms of getting orders for new sails. Then we are expecting and hoping to build those within the next 12 months,’ Harrop said in response to a question from Bunkerspot.
At 10,260 DWT, the MV Vectis Progress is no behemoth. According to Harrop, GT Wings’ AirWings technology ‘has a competitive advantage’ for smaller vessels because some of its competitors would not be able to fit their systems onboard – but it would not look to focus solely on these types of ships.
‘Obviously, we’re not going to rule out the other easier ones,’ said Harrop.
‘We have the ability to address a larger part of the market place than maybe some of our competitors, but we will be exploring all.’
