Lade AS, a Norwegian ship designer, has revealed a new, futuristic design for cargo ships. The new vessel will be using the ships’ hulls as the sail. The ‘Vindskip’ is inspired by sailboats and aerospace technology. The hull is a symmetrical air foil designed to use wind for propulsion, which will generate aerodynamic lift, pulling in the ship’s direction.
The system it uses will be a liquid natural gas electric propulsion system. This concept is being tested using wind tunnels and computational fluid dynamics. A model will be tested in a water tank, sometime in April. The new design could generate fuel savings up to 60%and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80%, compared to a modern ship.
One of Norway’s largest ship owners, Wilhelmsen, has their technical department involved in the brainstorming related to the new ship, but is not formally involved or invests in the project. The development of this idea is predicted to be finished by the end of 2015. After construction and engineering, the ship is estimated to take sail in 2019.
