A cargo ship named ‘Pyxis Ocean’ is starting its first journey with really big 123-foot ‘WindWings’ sails. These sails are like wings and they’re very big. The company Cargill is helping with the project.
The ship used to be different, but now it has these special sails and it’s going from China to Brazil. The sails are made of the same stuff as wind turbines, which are like big fans that make electricity from the wind. The ship’s trip will take about six weeks. The sails can help the ship use less fuel, which is good for the air and the planet.
The Pyxis Ocean has two WindWings, and each one can save as much as 1.5 tonnes of fuel every day; If they use different kinds of fuel, they might save even more. People are going to watch how well the sails work during the trip. They want to see if more ships can use these sails too.
The boss of BAR Technologies, John Cooper, said that wind is a cheap kind of fuel. It can help make less pollution and make ships work better. Wind power is also good because it comes from the wind, which is always there. This is really important because ships make a lot of pollution — around 2-3% of all the bad stuff that goes into the air. That’s a lot, about 837 million tonnes every year.
Right now, not many big ships use wind power like this. Most of them use engines that make a lot of pollution. But if the Pyxis Ocean’s trip goes well, maybe more ships will change to use these big WindWings. There’s another project that’s doing something similar — They’re making really tall sails for another ship, and it might save a lot of fuel too, which is a big deal because ships need to get cleaner for the planet.
The boss of Cargill’s ocean transportation business, Jan Bieleman, said that the shipping industry wants to stop making so much pollution. It’s not easy, but it’s an exciting journey to make the ships better for the air and the world.
Filed in . Read more about Eco-friendly and Ship.