Neoline opts for solid sails

NEOLINE OPTS FOR SOLID SAIL TECHNOLOGY

The Solid Sail solution from Chantiers de l’Atlantique has been chosen to power NEOLINE’s new vessel

Nantes-based, low-carbon shipping company NEOLINE will power its 136-metre ship, Neoliner, with the sail technology, which will save 80-90% of fuel compared to a conventional ship of the same size.

”The expertise of our technical partners and local players, combined with Chantiers de l’Atlantique’s Research and Development, give the project a synergy of skills, which made this choice possible,” said Jean Zanuttini, president of NEOLINE. ”The continuous work on the general design of the ship over the last few months by Mauric, Neoliner’s architect, has enabled the architecture to be adapted to this new rig, in order to ensure its integration on board.”

Crowdfunded

Following technical studies carried out by Chantiers de l’Atlantique, Neopolia, Mauric and D-Ice, the ship’s rigging will consist of two Solid Sail folding rigging systems, including two masts of 76 m in height, each equipped with the sail technology of 1,100 m² and a flexible jib of 400 m², with a total sail area of 3,000 m².

Obtained calculations show that the Solid Sail rig will provide the equivalent or even better performance than the 4,200 m² of flexible sails initially planned for the duplex rig, thanks to the thinness and vertical elongation of the structure, as well as the reduction of the masking effect of the sails.

The expected lifetime of the sail is 25 years, which will reduce maintenance costs compared to soft sails.

A crowdfunding campaign was launched in January 2022 to support the project and will remain active until 12 June 2022 on the WiSEED platform.

In all €1million is sought for the crowdfunder, which forms part of the fundraising of €3.3million from financial investors.

The beginning of construction of Neoliner has been postponed to autumn 2022. This is due to the interruption of international trade, with the raw materials market being impacted by the geopolitical situation and the war in Ukraine since the beginning of March, and before that, the global pandemic.

For strategic reasons, the Sogestran group has decided to withdraw from NEOLINE’s shareholding and has provided transitional financial support for the integration of a new reference partner. NEOLINE has approached another shipowner with whom discussions are in progress.

The cargo ship is scheduled to enter into service in 2024-2025.

8 NEOLINE will

power its 136-metre Neoliner with Solid Sail technology

Cutting-edge fuel vessel supply

MAN will supply fuel-gas supply systems (FGSSs) to a new series of two dual-fuel car carriers.

MAN Cryo signed the contract with Yantai CIMC Raffles Shipyard for the delivery of systems that will be fitted to the Wallenius Marine 6,500 pure car carriers going on charter to Volkswagen.

“This represents yet another world-first for MAN Cryo, where the boil-off gas will be sent to the low methane-slip ME-GI via a highpressure, boil-off-gas compressor. Due to the installed shaft generator, this further reduces the running hours on the auxiliary engines,” said Henrik Malm, managing director at MAN Energy Solutions, Sweden and Finland.

The MAN FGSS will send boil-off gas to the ME-GI main engine via a BOG compressor, which minimises methane slip.

Scope of delivery includes port and starboard-side bunkering stations, a 2,300 m3 LNG storage tank, tank connection space with low-pressure vaporiser, BOG heater and two LNG pumps and high-pressure gas-handling equipment.

MAN Cryo willl also supply a boil-off gas management system, including one highpressure compressor, on-board nitrogengeneration system and the control system as well as gas-detection system.

The FGSSs for the vessels will be delivered during 2023.

8 A graphical rendering of the new pure car

carrier

The UK government is backing hydrogen powered ships by way of a grant to bring new technology to market.

Liquid hydrogen bunkering unit developer Unitrove has been awarded a government grant to develop its portable units ready for commercial roll-out.

“We need collaboration across the entire energy industry as there is no one-size-fits-all solution,” said Steven Lua, CEO of Unitrove Innovation. ”We need to embrace multiple renewable and clean energy solutions to achieve our net-zero ambitions and we need real investment in infrastructure to develop affordable, reliable, sustainable energy in the future.”

Rapid commercialisation

The Leicestershire UK-based clean-tech company unveiled the unit at COP26 in Glasgow last November.

Mr Lua said liquid hydrogen as a commercial fuel has a great potential for many uses, including plugging the gap that electric and compressed hydrogen cannot fill.

“Liquid hydrogen has long been used to safely and successfully send rockets into space. The technology is mature, but the markets for its use are not,” he said.

“We already see very early signs of light-duty vessels being battery-driven or powered by compressed gaseous hydrogen, but liquid hydrogen will allow us to serve the heavier portion of the shipping fleet where we hope to have a much larger impact.”

He pointed out that Unitrove is also exploring options including ammonia, liquid organic hydrogen carriers and solid hydrogen in the form of sodium borohydride.

“We believe that hydrogen will be recognised as a global commodity that will be traded in the same way that natural gas is today. The bunker fuel market is worth an estimated $120bn, so there is a huge opportunity not only in environmental and social terms, but also financially,” said Mr Lua.

The GB£30,000 Transport Research and Innovation Grant (TRIG) was awarded to Unitrove by the Department for Transport in partnership with Connected Places Catapult, will be used to help further develop Unitrove’s commercial version of its small-scale portable bunkering facility.

UK BACKS HYDROGEN TRANSITION

8 Unitrove’s technology has won a UK Government

grant to develop a unit ready for rapid deployment to ports around the world