Maersk Tankers, which spearheads Maersk's liquid bulk
business, recently announced a decision to sell Maersk Pelican. Pelican was the
first product tanker in the world that retrofitted wind propulsion technology
into its operations.
2018 saw a pair of Norsepower Flettner rotor sails
retrofitted onto the tanker for the very first time, and Maersk claimed that
over a one-year test period, the vessel showed an 8.2 percent drop in fuel
consumption.
Based on ship registration information, the vessel is now
owned by Indonesia's Buana Lintas Lautan (BULL), a company that has been
actively picking up second-hand tanker tonnage lately. Maersk Pelican has now
been renamed as Timberwolf.
“This vessel was special to us. While the vessel is sold
with the technology installed onboard, we will continue to work with relevant
parties to enable the use of wind propulsion technology onboard product
tankers, just as we will continue to capitalize on existing and new fuel-saving
solutions to help owners optimize vessel performance and cut CO2
emissions," said Tommy Thomassen, Chief Technical Officer at Maersk
Tankers.
Wind propulsion has received much interest lately for it's
cost-effective nature, as ship owners around the world aim to reduce fuel
consumption and decrease their carbon footprint along the way. Depending on the
size of these sails, the efficiency boosts of the propulsion assistance
mechanisms are generally around 15–20 percent.