Boomsma Shipping’s vessel makes maiden voyage with wind-assisted units

The Dutch-flagged vessel has made its maiden voyage to Sweden’s Vasteras from Harlingen in the Netherlands with the VentiFoils in operation.

“We believe it is necessary and very important to meet sustainability challenges to reduce our environmental footprint. Together with the IMO decarbonisation goals for 2050 we want to do our part to reduce our fuel consumption and CO2 emissions as soon as possible,” said Johan Boomsma, co-owner of Boomsma Shipping.

The VentiFoils by eConowind are designed as optimal compact, non-rotating wing profiles, creating thrust by means of the principle of boundary-layer-suction, for which ventilators are mounted inside the VentiFoils. Due to the generated thrust by the eConowind unit, the thrust of the propeller can be reduced to maintain the same speed leading to fuel savings and emission reductions.

A new Flatrack design has the flexibility of a container, being movable by the hatch crane, needs limited installation time and has possibility for use on several vessels. With this system the units can be positioned just in front of the superstructure during loading.

Tessa Remery, project coordinator at Boomsma Shipping, said: “With the help of the Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion (WASP) project, part of the EU Interreg North Sea region program, we will now test the performance during the coming two years. This innovative technology has to work in our daily operations with various wind conditions.  We hope to find savings to be in the region of 10%.”

Related:ABS joins IWSA to push for uptake of wind propulsion solutions

The WASP project is funded by the Interreg North Sea Europe program, part of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and brings together universities and wind-assist technology providers with shipowners to research, trial and validate the operational performance of a selection of wind propulsion solutions.