Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) announced that on July 10, the Green Winds, a 63,896 DWT Ultramax bulk carrier equipped with the Wind Challenger hard sail wind power propulsion system, was completed at Oshima Shipbuilding. MOL Group company MOL Drybulk will operate this new vessel.
With a length of 199.95 meters and a beam of 32.26 meters, Green Winds is the second of a total of nine MOL Group vessels that have been or will be equipped with the Wind Challenger, and the world’s first crane vessel equipped with the Wind Challenger.
The Wind Challenger is a device developed by MOL and Oshima Shipbuilding that converts wind energy to propulsive force using telescoping hard sails. With the Wind Challenger, the vessel is expected to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by about 7%-16%, depending on the ship route and other conditions.
MOL has established the “MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.2″ and has set the target of achieving net zero GHG emissions by 2050. Among the key strategies to achieve this target are the ” further adopt energy-saving technologies,” and the group plans to launch 25 vessels equipped with the Wind Challenger by 2030 and 80 vessels by 2035.
MOL Group is proactively expanding its environmentally friendly fleet, which combines wind propulsion technology, such as the Wind Challenger, across a wide range of ship types, and through safe management and efficient operation, it will not only reduce GHG emissions from its own group companies, but also contribute to the decarbonization of society as a whole.