Sailing with a kite!

The power of wind has been the most used energy source throughout the history of sailing. Currently, the use of wind power is limited to small boats with recreational purposes and commercial shipping depends exclusively on fossile fuels. What if we could avoid the carbon emissions generated by the thousands of cargo vessels that sail through the world every day? A german company has recently developed a wind propulsion system for cargo ships based on large towing kites. The SkySails system consists of an automated towing kite and a system that optimises the route according to the wind. When the wind conditions are suitable, this system can be used additionally to the propulsion of the ship’s engine. By using the SkySails-System, a ship‘s fuel costs can be reduced by 10- 35% on annual average, depending on wind conditions.

The first cargo ship with SkySails-Sytem, the Beluga Skysails was christened at Hamburg on December 15th, 2007. The future will tell if this environmentally friendly technology meets the requirements of commercial shipping. Maybe we will be the witnesses of a the start of a revolution in sea transportation.

If you want to find out more, have a look at the company's official website:

Skysails