Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is proceeding with plans for the
world’s first modern-day coal carrier equipped with a hard sail. The shipping
line announced that it has reached a coal transport deal with Tohoku Electric
Power Co., that will employ the vessel outfitted with the “Wind Challenger,” a
telescoping hard sail power propulsion system.
The 99,000 DWT vessel will be built by Oshima Shipbuilding
Co. and will have a length of approximately 770 feet. They anticipate it will
enter service in 2022.
MOL and Tohoku Electric Power plan to conduct more
verification tests on the system’s GHG reduction effects closer to the 2022
target date for the new carrier to begin operation. Current estimates are that
the Wind Challenger will contribute to approximately a five percent reduction
of greenhouse gas emissions on the Japan-Australia route or approximately eight
percent on the Japan-North America West Coast route, in comparison with a
conventional vessel of the same class.
Efforts that contributed to the development of the Wind
Challenger began in 2009 with an industry-academia joint research project led
by The University of Tokyo. In January 2018, MOL and Oshima Shipbuilding took
charge of the design and in October 2019, received an Approval in Principle
(AIP) for the hard sail system. Over the past year, the companies have been developing
a detailed design and implementation plan for the sail system.