The AC75 race boat Ineos Britannia “flying” on foils in practice for the America’s Cup.
C.Gregory/INEOS Britannia
From WSJ by Perry Cleveland-Peck
From solid sails to flying boats, technology developed for the world’s most famous sailing competition is making its way into the commercial fleet, as the industry races to reduce carbon emissions
Merchant shipowners with an eye on a sustainable future will have the Port of Barcelona in their sights this month and next.
But it isn’t the Spanish commercial sea hub they will be focusing on rather than the America’s Cup yacht regatta that is being hosted by the Mediterranean city.
The sailing event, which takes place every three or four years in different locations around the world and is often described as Formula One racing on the sea, brings together world-class sailors and money-no-object design teams in a bid to create state-of-the-art race boats in the hope of winning the world’s oldest international sports competition.
But while the offshore action will no doubt be exhilarating to watch, it is the work taking place in the boat sheds and sail lofts on shore that could prove more interesting for the shipping industry as it seeks to meet its net-zero goals.
“A surprising amount of the tech that is developed for the America’s Cup finds its way into the commercial fleet” as the industry “strives to reduce carbon emissions,” said Peter Sand of ocean analytics firm Xeneta.
But it isn’t the Spanish commercial sea hub they will be focusing on rather than the America’s Cup yacht regatta that is being hosted by the Mediterranean city.
The sailing event, which takes place every three or four years in different locations around the world and is often described as Formula One racing on the sea, brings together world-class sailors and money-no-object design teams in a bid to create state-of-the-art race boats in the hope of winning the world’s oldest international sports competition.
But while the offshore action will no doubt be exhilarating to watch, it is the work taking place in the boat sheds and sail lofts on shore that could prove more interesting for the shipping industry as it seeks to meet its net-zero goals.
“A surprising amount of the tech that is developed for the America’s Cup finds its way into the commercial fleet” as the industry “strives to reduce carbon emissions,” said Peter Sand of ocean analytics firm Xeneta.
Ben Ainslie is the skipper of Ineos Britannia, the U.K.’s 2024 America’s Cup team.
Photo: INEOS Britannia
Photo: INEOS Britannia
Founded by Ben Ainslie, the captain of the British America’s Cup team for the past three campaigns and a sailing medal winner in five consecutive Olympic Games, BAR Technologies was born directly out of the 2017 America’s Cup regatta with one simple idea: Why let all the effort and money that went into designing and perfecting these incredible race boats go to waste once the event is over?
The boutique marine consulting firm, based in Portsmouth, England, has since taken some of the most winning formulas from the America’s Cup campaigns and applied them to the commercial sector.
It is perhaps best known for its WindWings technology, solid sails developed using techniques borrowed from the America’s Cup and adapted for commercial shipping, allowing a vessel to maintain speed while powering its engine down, thereby consuming less fuel and operating more efficiently and sustainably.
“We’re always pushing the boundaries in the America’s Cup,” Ainslie said.
“When we set up the British team, we also established a technologies business on the back of that.
The wing-sail technology was the most transferable for commercial shipping.
And now they’re on these huge commercial tankers.”
The Berge Olympus is fitted with four WindWings, which lower fuel consumption and reduce emissions.
Photo: BAR Technologies
Last year, Singapore-based shipping company Berge Bulk, which owns a minority stake in BAR Technologies, launched a 300-meter bulk carrier fitted with four WindWings, which it says help to lower fuel consumption by up to 20% and reduce emissions by an average of 19.5 metric tons a day.
Meanwhile, U.S.
agribusiness giant Cargill, which put two WindWings on one of its 230-meter carriers for six months, said that in optimum conditions the sails are able to save 11 metric tons of fuel, or 41 metric tons of CO2e, a day—a 37% emissions saving.
BAR Technologies is also working with U.K. shipping company Union Maritime to put WindWings on a number of vessels it has under construction.
The company, which says it has the world’s largest wind assisted propulsion system, or WAPS, fleet on order, announced in June that it too had bought a minority stake in BAR Technologies.
Uptake of sail technology within the commercial sector is growing.
In a report out last month, U.K. professional services firm Lloyd’s Register found that deployment of WAPS is expected to pass the 100-installation mark in the next two-three years.
Gavin Allwright, the secretary-general of the International Windship Association, who is quoted in the Lloyd’s Register report, said the challenge for modern shipbuilders is taking state-of-the-art technology seen in races like the America’s Cup and turning it into a robust product that can last 30 years.
“In the racing community, every second, every fraction of a knot, can be the difference between winning and not winning.
Many of our members are taking these incredibly fine, highly developed models and adapting them for a commercial level, where those systems, those materials can be replicated at scale and be cost-effective,” he told The Wall Street Journal.
BAR Technologies isn’t the only marine engineer with roots in yacht racing that is making sails for today’s merchant fleet.
French naval architect VPLP, which built the catamaran that won the 2010 America’s Cup among many other race boats, designed the rigid wings for the first sail-assisted containership, Canopée, constructed to transport Ariane rocket components between mainland France and French Guiana.
In Germany, Hapag-Lloyd is working with the blue water yachtsman Boris Hermann on a possible wind propulsion project for some of its vessels.
“There’s probably about 40 different companies developing wind-propulsions technologies worldwide.
Thirteen of those are in the market or just coming in, offering four or five different types of wind propulsion,” Allwright said.
Meanwhile, U.S.
agribusiness giant Cargill, which put two WindWings on one of its 230-meter carriers for six months, said that in optimum conditions the sails are able to save 11 metric tons of fuel, or 41 metric tons of CO2e, a day—a 37% emissions saving.
BAR Technologies is also working with U.K. shipping company Union Maritime to put WindWings on a number of vessels it has under construction.
The company, which says it has the world’s largest wind assisted propulsion system, or WAPS, fleet on order, announced in June that it too had bought a minority stake in BAR Technologies.
Uptake of sail technology within the commercial sector is growing.
In a report out last month, U.K. professional services firm Lloyd’s Register found that deployment of WAPS is expected to pass the 100-installation mark in the next two-three years.
Gavin Allwright, the secretary-general of the International Windship Association, who is quoted in the Lloyd’s Register report, said the challenge for modern shipbuilders is taking state-of-the-art technology seen in races like the America’s Cup and turning it into a robust product that can last 30 years.
“In the racing community, every second, every fraction of a knot, can be the difference between winning and not winning.
Many of our members are taking these incredibly fine, highly developed models and adapting them for a commercial level, where those systems, those materials can be replicated at scale and be cost-effective,” he told The Wall Street Journal.
BAR Technologies isn’t the only marine engineer with roots in yacht racing that is making sails for today’s merchant fleet.
French naval architect VPLP, which built the catamaran that won the 2010 America’s Cup among many other race boats, designed the rigid wings for the first sail-assisted containership, Canopée, constructed to transport Ariane rocket components between mainland France and French Guiana.
In Germany, Hapag-Lloyd is working with the blue water yachtsman Boris Hermann on a possible wind propulsion project for some of its vessels.
“There’s probably about 40 different companies developing wind-propulsions technologies worldwide.
Thirteen of those are in the market or just coming in, offering four or five different types of wind propulsion,” Allwright said.
An artist’s impression of a vessel built with AeroBridge and WindWings.
Photo: BAR Technologies
In addition to making sails, BAR Technologies has used its design know-how to rethink the superstructure of the modern bulk carrier with sustainability in mind.
Taking a fresh look at the shape of most commercial ships today, the company’s engineers identified that one of the biggest causes of aerodynamic drag on the vessels was their accommodation blocks, which traditionally run across the ship, perpendicular to their direction of travel, presenting a wall of metal to the oncoming wind.
The company has solved the problem with its “AeroBridge” concept, which replaces the crew block with two linked accommodation quarters running down the sides of the ship, connected below decks and by a bridge above.
Union Maritime is in discussion with BAR Technologies over the possible installation of AeroBridge on some of its future vessels.
Bar Technologies CEO John Cooper said that to attract the best designers and engineers to his company, he needs to offer exciting projects around sustainability.
“The shipping industry is one of the dirtiest.
It is burning fuel that is the waste product of refineries.
So if you’re really into decarbonization, the maritime business is a really exciting area,” he said.
BAR Technologies’ BARTech 30 commercial work boat uses foil technology to reduce fuel consumption and smooth out the ride.
Photo: BAR Technologies
Photo: BAR Technologies
Another innovation seen at the America’s Cup and developed by BAR Technologies for the commercial sector relates to foils, the underwater “wings” that are attached to the race boats which allow them to lift out of the water and “fly” at eye-popping speeds in relatively low winds thanks to the reduction in drag acting on the boats’ hulls.
The company has adapted foil technology for its crew-transfer vessels designed for the offshore wind industry in an effort to “help make a green-energy sector even greener.” It uses foils to lift the boats slightly, correcting for pitch and roll while at sea, while reducing displacement and drag, and thus fuel use.
It also makes for a much more comfortable ride.
Some of BAR Technolgies transfer vessels are currently at work in the North Sea serving the U.K.’s wind farms.
Ainslie said that taken together these steps are like the theory of marginal gains in sport.
“The AeroBridge can generate maybe 3% efficiency. We’ve got foils on our commercial boats.
We’re redesigning some hull sections, particularly in the bow. We’ve got the WindWings. You add it up, all of a sudden it becomes a really meaningful efficiency gain.”
Another company developing America’s Cup foil engineering for the commercial sector is Artemis Technologies, a Belfast-based maritime design and engineering company spun out of Artemis Racing, the Swedish challenger in the 2017 America’s Cup regatta and one of the teams in this year’s new women’s event.
The company’s CEO and founder is Iain Percy, himself a double Olympic sailing champion for Great Britain and a former America’s Cup tactician.
His company has developed a fleet of fully electric foiling workboats, including pilot boats and a passenger ferry.
One of its electric boats is being employed as a “chase” boat by the Artemis team in Barcelona.
Artemis uses foil technology developed in the America’s Cup on its all-electric foiling workboats.Photo: ARTEMIS Technologies
The same foil technology is also being harnessed to boost efficiencies on new hydrogen-powered chase boats that each America’s Cup team must operate this year.
The hope is that these emissions-free vessels will also inspire more sustainable power boats in the future.
Mark Evans, the CEO of McConaghy Boats, which built the chase boat for Emirates Team New Zealand, the defender of the America’s Cup, said he is looking at building a 300-seater version of the vessel that would serve as a passenger ferry.
Bluegame, an Italian company that has made the U.S.team’s hydrogen-powered chase boat, said its experience constructing the vessel will “give birth to a new range” of multihulls, “containing many advanced technological elements of the America’s Cup boat.”
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