News
Maritime regulations: double digit savings with suction sails
Dana Camps
Published
21 August 2024
Is it possible to see evolving regulations as an opportunity rather than a challenge? Can shipowners and operators simplify compliance with maritime regulations while unlocking significant commercial advantage? José Miguel Bermúdez, CEO at bound4blue, says the answer is blowing in the wind.
Take one ship.
A 17,000 DWT LPG tanker sailing a route between Antwerp and Houston at 15 knots. *
There’s a proven way to reduce fuel costs on that vessel, without deviating from the normal route and speed or buying alternative fuels, by 9.8% a year, translating to annual OPEX savings of USD 283,000.
Now, let’s consider EU ETS and FuelEU penalty costs.
If nothing changes, there’s a (heavy) price to pay for non-compliance.
However, adopt the above, robust solution and savings climb to 18.4% by 2027, equivalent to USD 532,000 a year.
Time travel forward to 2040 and those savings have raced to 22.66%, or USD 655,000.
Now, multiply those benefits across fleets, businesses and the entire shipping industry.
It makes for a powerful regulatory, environmental and commercial case – one that an increasing number of forward-thinking owners are waking up to.
Easy advantages
The solution, of course, is wind. And, more specifically, suction sails.
Wind is finding favour across shipping segments, with figures recently quoted by DNV (from MEPC 81/INF.39) projecting 70-80 vessel installations in 2024/25, rising to 100+ in 25/26 and 200+ in 26/27. The reasons are simple.
Wind produces zero emissions, is free and abundant, and, unlike other alternative fuels, is used at source with no supply and infrastructure issues.
Of the various technologies capable of harnessing this renewable power, suction sails offer low weight, structural and mechanical simplicity, high lift, easy operations, flexibility, small size and power consumption and, thanks to the reduced load on main engines and lower fuel consumption, excellent payback. In a landscape of evolving alternatives, they are also seen as an enabler for new fuels, bridging the cost gap between conventional and emerging options (such as hydrogen and ammonia) by minimizing consumption. These benefits are particularly important in the context of stricter maritime regulations.
It’s this range of advantages that, according to findings from Clarkson Research – World Fleet Register, is edging them ahead of rival technologies (including hard sails and rotor sails) on the industry orderbook.
So, if you’re looking to wind you need to look at suction sails (such as bound4blue’s market proven eSAIL®) as the emerging ‘preferred’ choice.
A closer inspection of those savings may help sharpen your focus.
The new maritime regulations wave
Regulators have been, and will continue, flexing their muscles to empower shipping’s green shift.
EEDI and CII have been joined by EU ETS, EEXI and, looming on the horizon in 2025, FuelEU Maritime. Although differing in their details, each new addition aims to nudge the industry towards greater efficiency and lower carbon emissions, with the stated aim of net zero by 2050. The increasing number of maritime regulations reflects the global commitment to reducing the environmental impact of shipping.
Did you miss it? Check out our last webinar about Navigating Regulatory Waters
In particular, EU ETS, forcing vessels over 5,000 DWT to buy allowances for CO2 emissions originating from intra- and extra-EU voyages, and FuelEU Maritime, which seeks to limit GHG intensity of energy used on vessels, with penalties for non-compliance, are furrowing brows in boardrooms worldwide. These new maritime regulations are prompting companies to reconsider their strategies.
Suction sails, however, can help straighten things out.
Primarily, this technology, and WAPS in general, have the main benefit of drastically reducing fuel consumption, and thus emissions. This slashes expenditure on compliance with maritime regulations, as well as at the gas pump, with less requirement for EU ETS allowances.
And when you factor in Fuel EU regulations – WAPS help greatly reduce the amount of dirty fuel burnt, limiting vessel GHG intensity – the savings move from beyond ‘interesting’ and into the domain of ‘breath-taking’.
The added value option
Hopping back onboard our LPG tanker, we see fuel savings (if prices stay constant) of USD 283,000 a year (around 500 tonnes) between 2025 and 2040. A powerful figure in its own right.
Forecasted EU ETS savings vary slightly for this period but stay relatively stable within the USD 60-70,000 range per annum.
However, the benefits in relation to FuelEU take any last ball of doubt and knock it out the park. Savings in the region of USD 160,000 from 2026 to 2034 rocket to over USD 280,000 per year from 2040, as demands increase in stringency, highlighting the long-term value of compliance with maritime regulations.
In this sense, there’s not just the twin argument of reduced consumption and simplified compliance, but there’s the added reward of massive payback thanks to that all improved GHG efficiency.
Seen in this light, wind (and compliance overall) isn’t just an environmental force for change, it’s an enabler for smarter, more profitable business operations.
Now is the time
Leading shipowners are increasingly aware of this new reality, with a growing number of frontrunners now investing in wind. bound4blue’s eSAILs®, which drag air across an aerodynamic surface, generating exceptional propulsive efficiency, are a solution of choice, with simple, robust and fully autonomous operation, making wind an easy choice for a wide variety of segments.
Recent orders have been placed by shipping companies such as Eastern Pacific Shipping, Louis Dreyfus Company, Marflet and Odfjell, to name a few. Given the benefits of the technology, and the forecasts from industry authorities such as DNV and Clarkson’s, we expect this to be just the beginning of an upcoming storm of interest. Research from the EU backs this sentiment, with a forecast of up to 10,700 wind propulsion installations by 2030, potentially covering 50% of the bulker fleet and 65% of tankers (and resulting in an emissions reduction of 7.5Mt of CO2).
With the proven advantages of systems such as bound4blue’s, the huge OPEX savings and the environmental performance, it begs the question of “why wait to comply with evolving regulations?”
The benefits, like the power itself, are available right now.
So, why not lead the way into a profitable, compliant, green shipping future rather than following others?
The winds of change are blowing… harness them and reap the rewards.
To know more!
*The case study is based on the installation of three 18m model 2 eSAILs® with historical wind data sourced across 13 years (2010-2023, ECMWF – ERA5), sailing at 15 knots on the Houston – Antwerp route (50% of the time on each direction) . For further details please contact enquiries@bound4blue.com
