On December 26th, Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group Co.,Ltd (“WS”), an affiliate of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, successfully started the construction of the 2nd wind assisted RORO Vessel, which was built for LD SEAPLANE SAS, a subsidiary of France’s LDA.
In January this year, WS signed a contract with LD SEAPLANE SAS, for the construction of 3 wind assisted RORO Vessels. The 1st vessel of the series has been started on October 24th.
This wind assisted RORO Vessel is an advanced and the latest green heavy ro-ro vessel in the world with green environmental protection equipment. The vessel is 169 meters long, 23.32 meters wide, 8.5 meters deep, with a structural draft of 6 meters and a service speed of 14 knots.
The vessels combine methanol-fueled and wind-assisted propulsion systems with two methanol-fueled main engines, two methanol-fueled auxiliary engines, six Flettner rotating wind turbines and two sets of stabilizer fins, as well as advanced automation systems such as an energy optimization and management system, an energy-efficiency management and monitoring system and a gas emission monitoring system, all of which are designed to significantly reduce carbon emissions from the transportation of Airbus aircraft components.
Upon delivery, the vessel will serve Air Bus, France, by transporting components for Airbus aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean between its production site in St. Nazaire, France, and its single-aisle aircraft assembly line in Mobile, Alabama, United States of America. Each new vessel will have the capacity to transport approximately 70 40-foot containers and six single-aisle aircraft components – wings, fuselages, engine mounts, horizontal and vertical tails.