Leading the way with wind: how one charterer is proactively powering towards green goals

Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) didn’t want to wait for other industry stakeholders to commit to sustainable shipping. Dana Camps spoke with Fabian Kowatsch, Shipping Decarbonisation Specialist at LDC, to find out more about how the agribusiness giant took the lead in embracing renewable, cost-effective and compliant wind power with bound4blue’s eSAILs®.

“We knew that we had to be proactive in our approach to reducing environmental impact… that we couldn’t just sit on the sidelines and hope that shipowners would solve the emissions problem by themselves,” said Fabian Kowatsch, part of LDC’s dedicated shipping decarbonisation team, during an industry webinar organized by bound4blue this summer. 

➡️ Watch the full recording of the webinar ⬅️

He continued: “The journey to decarbonisation demands that everyone get on board. All stakeholders in the shipping chain – from regulators, shipowners, cargo-owners, technology suppliers and logistics firms, right through to end consumers – have vital roles to play. Sustainability cannot be achieved in isolation, by any single player or standalone segment in the chain. We’re all connected and rely on one another’s climate commitments.” 

LDC, it is evident, is eager to seize that sense of responsibility and run with it. 

Open to innovation

The implementation of the IMO2020 fuel-sulphur regulation was a key and welcome move, with the scheduled introduction of the EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime making it clear to LDC that, in Fabian’s words, “it was time for all stakeholders to adapt.” 

LDC quickly moved to establish its shipping decarbonisation team to investigate a broad range of emissions reducing/efficiency boosting technologies. Fabian says the team had a completely “open mind”, considering all options as part of an initiative that led to the introduction of, amongst other innovations, low-friction paints, wake equalizing ducts, engine load optimization and voyage optimization to LDC’s chartered vessels. 

Wind emerged as an obvious focal point for discussion, with talks revolving around three key points, namely: that it was the only energy source offering potential double-digit fuel savings, with the possibility of over 10% less consumption/costs (with accompanying emissions and regulatory benefits); that it provides on point, free and readily accessible propulsive power; and that it reduces consumption of other ‘alternative’ fuels, which come with hefty price tags, thus enabling and supporting the ‘green shift’. 

Wind, it appeared, was the way to go. But it wasn’t quite that easy… 

The added value answer 

Fabian explains: “Given the different solutions – rotors, rigid wings, semi-rigid wings, kites and suction sails – we were in a dilemma about which to choose.”  

At that point, in 2022, bound4blue’s eSAIL® – a fully autonomous solution that drags air across an aerodynamic surface to generate exceptional propulsive efficiency – was identified as a possible system of choice, with a favourable payback period. However, LDC wanted to ensure it covered all the bases, so enlisted an expert partner at the beginning of 2023. 

“We approached class society Lloyd’s Register (LR) to start a comparative study to find out which technology option would fit our specific need,” says Fabian. “This allowed us to compare them under the same theoretical conditions to work out potential fuel savings. We also included other factors such as robustness of equipment, required level of crew involvement and training, ease of use, technological maturity, and the weight and size of the sails.” 

The benefits of the eSAIL® solution succeeded in securing ‘first place’ in the study, impressing the company to such an extent that Louis Dreyfus Company Ventures, LDC’s corporate venture capital program, actually became a shareholder in bound4blue in September 2023. 

Meanwhile, ‘stage two’ of the journey to adoption – finding the right vessel to start LDC’s wind revolution – was well underway. 

The right choice 

The case for wind was crystal clear, and now it was time to polish up a business case for the ideal vessel. 

As LDC charters, rather than owns, ships (operating a fleet of over 250 vessels for its own business and third parties), a long charter contract was essential to ensure, as Fabian says, “break-even point and beyond” for the initial capital investment. A consistent vessel trading pattern would create additional benefits, with the team able to both predict wind and weather conditions (and thus accurately forecast the scale of savings) as well as ensuring compliance with any individual port restrictions.  

And of course, a shipowner with the same forward-thinking values as LDC would help smooth things along. Enter Sweden’s Wisby Tankers and its 34,584-dwt Atlantic Orchard (built in 2014), a bulk carrier transporting fruit juice from Brazil to Europe. An agreement to install four eSAILs® was signed in December 2023. 

Side by side 

Fabian reveals that Wisby Tankers was just as keen to set sail with wind as his team at LDC, defining interactions between the two as “open, supportive and innovative”, right from the start: “They helped us hugely in finding solutions tooutfit MVAtlantic Orchard,”  he notes, “(including) the placement of the sails (in this case four, 26m tall eSAILs®), integration with the vessel’s electrical systems and the interaction with its class society, DNV, for example.”  

“A critical component is who you work with and how you combine efforts to overcome challenges,”  he adds, with an appreciative nod to LR. “bound4blue are cut from the same cloth as the other partners in the project (which has now progressed to the engineering phase) and are a great vendor to work with. Since signing the contract, they’ve been by our side providing advice, feedback and lessons learned from previous projects, which allowed us to manage andanticipated number of challenges together.”

LDC’s  approach to proactive partnership on the project harks back to the initial belief that waiting for one segment of an interconnected industry to act on decarbonisation is a wrong move (or rather, it’s the absence of any move at all!). On the contrary, by working together and actively seizing responsibility, the voyage we all need to undertake can get underway. 

We’ll keep you informed as to when the wind-assisted MV Atlantic Orchard sets sail for the first time. The juice it carries is going to taste sweeter than ever! 

Contact information: 

bound4blue
Dana Camps | T. +34 938 33 73 92 | press@bound4blue.com 

About bound4blue 

bound4blue develops automated wind-assisted propulsion systems as a turnkey solution for all shipowners and shipping companies seeking to reduce fuel costs and polluting emissions. bound4blue’s eSAIL^® system is a validated solution for saving fuel and emissions, completely autonomous, with low maintenance and easy installation onboard, being the most cost-efficient wind propulsion technology today. It is suitable for Tankers, Bulkers, Ro-Ros, Cruises, Ferries, Gas Carriers, and General Cargo vessels, regardless of their size or age. The company, founded in 2014 with a vocation clearly focused on the renewable energy sector in the maritime field, has its headquarters in Cantabria (Spain) and offices in Barcelona and Singapore. The company has installed its eSAIL^® system on four ships and has signed additional agreements with other shipowners like Eastern Pacific Shipping, Marflet, Louis Dreyfus Company, Marubeni Corporation, Odfjell and SNA TUHA’A PAE to install the system on their fleets.

For more information, visit: www.bound4blue.com  

About Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) 

Louis Dreyfus Company is a leading merchant and processor of agricultural goods, founded in 1851. We leverage our global reach and extensive asset network to serve our customers and consumers around the world, delivering the right products to the right location, at the right time – safely, reliably and responsibly. Our activities span the entire value chain, from farm to fork, across a broad range of business lines (platforms): Carbon Solutions, Coffee, Cotton, Food & Feed Solutions, Freight, Global Markets, Grains & Oilseeds, Juice, Rice and Sugar. We help feed and clothe some 500 million people every year by originating, processing and transporting approximately 80 million tons of products. Louis Dreyfus Company is active in over 100 countries across six geographical regions and employs approximately 17,000 people globally.

For more information, visit www.ldc.com and follow us on LinkedIn, X and WeChat (ID: we_are_ldc).