Back to the Future - Cargo Ship to use Sail

by Reuters, ocregister.com on 28 Dec 2006 BREMEN, Germany – Putting a harness on ocean winds, a German shipping company plans to unfurl a giant high-tech kite over a cargo ship next year to boost the vessel's propulsion and conserve fuel.

The 'SkySail,' a 191-square-yard kite tethered to a mast, has successfully undergone years of trial runs, and Bremen ship owner Beluga Shipping believes it will help its vessels cut fuel use by 15 percent to 20 percent.

The MV Beluga SkySails, now being built and fitted with a paraglider-shaped sail and a 'smart' central steerage unit, will make its maiden voyage in early 2007.

'I got the idea on a sailboat a few years ago,' Stephan Wrage, inventor and founder of SkySails GmbH & Co. KG, told Reuters. 'I love flying kites and found sailing rather slow. I thought the enormous power in kites could somehow be utilized.'

The technology he has developed is a throwback to an earlier age of maritime travel when ships relied solely on wind. But it also addresses a key concern of the modern age: climate change.

Backers of SkySail call it a 'green' project – by cutting fuel use it could help reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

Wrage, 34, said that depending on the vessel and the winds, fuel costs for shippers could be cut by more than $1,000 a day.

For more information about this ‘revolutionary’ idea, go to the SkySail Website