A sustainable shipping solution in the wind

Danielle Doggett Founder and CEO

Named by the Royal Institute of Naval Architects as one of the most influential women of the past century, Danielle Doggett is Founder and CEO of Veer Group. Veer is developing an innovative wind-powered solution for cargo shipping. Questions by Phil Nicholls.

By way of introduction, could you please share a brief history of Veer?

Veer is the culmination of my 20 years in sailing. Combining 12 years’ experience sailing cargo with an obsession for achievement, I went back to the drawing board to create the ideal solution for end users. After all this time, not a single company was listening to the client. I focused my attention on understanding the needs of clients and coupled them with cutting-edge clean-energy systems that are ready.

Can you please outline the sustainable shipping solution from Veer?

Veer directly leads to healthier, more resilient oceans and coastal systems by critically examining myriad factors that negatively affect these zones - and producing innovative solutions that can be tested and proven today. Veer is an intrepid, breakthroughcompany that is scalable and replicable, proving to stakeholders that achieving greater ocean health is safe, reliable and ready.

Some of the factors that Veer addresses are greenhouse gas emissions (including sulphur), heavy air pollution, oil spills, fracking, bio-acoustic pollution, invasive species, barriers to access of small island nations, rights of coastal community members and crew, and more. These factors are quantifiable contributions which improve the health of the oceans and many other systems.

The most eye-catching feature of the Veer ships are the DynaRig sails. Please share with our readers the benefits of returning to wind-powered shipping.

The benefits of returning to wind-powered shipping are the sustainable nature of the resource, the lack of contribution to climate change, and, for our clients, a reliably priced product that doesn’t fluctuate with oil prices.

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Veer Group

The Veer container ships will be 100 metres long, so what levels of performance will the sails deliver?

The high-performance sailing rig will be able to power 100% of the propulsion requirements of the vessel when there are prevailing good conditions.

The ships are designed to go 12-18 knots - which is on par with, or faster than, what current international authorities expect of oil cargo ships. While traditional container ships can go up to 20-25 knots, the marginal deficiency in oil use is cost and resource prohibitive, so they regularly sail at between 8-12 knots.

I understand that these ships will also feature green hydrogen fuel cell engines. Can you please explain your reasoning for adopting a hybrid wind/hydrogen model?

Yes - this design of vessel will have a 750kW engine, powered by green hydrogen fuel cells. This system will be coupled with a battery bank, which will allow for peak-shaving (improving energy balance). In harbour and port, as well as on calm days, it is essential to have a reliable back-up power source. Knowing we wanted these ships to be 100% clean, we needed an energy source that was efficient and effective - hydrogen fuel cells are just that. It is proven technology that works.

While sailing in good conditions, the vessel will have the option to generate electrical energy by using the propeller as a turbine effectively capturing the kinetic energy (forward motion of the ship as driven by the wind and sails) and converting it to direct use or stored electrical energy.

In subsequent iterations of this design, we may choose to have an electrolyser onboard - an investment which would allow for green hydrogen generation onboard the ship.

October 2022 brought Approval in Principle for the project from the American Bureau of Shipping. How has this achievement assisted the development of the Veer Voyage project?

Having the Approval in Principle granted to Veer from the American Bureau of Shipping sets our project apart - there are so many ideas and concepts out there today, it can be hard for stakeholders to know which project has the potential to be realised - this is a major indicator of our ability to make these

ships a reality. When stakeholder confidence is increased, it creates enabling conditions for them to support further development, which has a positive-feedback effect.

We have what we need to bring to shipyards for the builds to begin. Others will be looking at paper for a long time, we will be looking at our steel hulls in a short time.

Your stated mission is to be a ‘clean shipping generation leader’. Do you believe that this can only be achieved through wind-powered shipping?

I believe that wind is a solution at our fingertips that is not being harnessed. For me, my path as a shipping leader at this moment is with wind. Through my work with wind, I hope to inspire others into creating - or generating - other projects within clean shipping. There are so many emerging technologies in the energy space, I wouldn’t use the word ‘only’ - recurring themes in clean shipping are stakeholder collaboration, blended capital and hybrid energy approaches. We are not at a turning point with energy, we are at a starburst.

What are the biggest challenges you face for the next step of the project?

Currently, we are about to submit our bid packages to shipyards. Finding the right partner to build with us is imperative. This has also never been done before, so anytime you head into unknown territory, you must be ready for anything. What those challenges will be, I do not know, but we will face them head on. I chose the partners I work with for that reason, they are world-renowned leaders in their industry. I have no doubt that together, whatever comes our way, we will be successful.

Do you have a timeframe for when we are likely to see these amazing ships?

In our communications with the shipyards to manufacture the ships, we expect 7-12 months for hull completion, 18 months for the DynaRig sails/masts. As the combination of DynaRig, hydrogen systems and a new hull design has not been done before, Veer will build the first two ships simultaneously or consecutively in Europe. 2024 will be the year we start shipping. What aspect of your job excites you personally? What makes you eager to walk into the office each morning?

My desire to see these ships on the water excites me. They are going to be so beautiful and so functional. The fact that I know it is possible, I know it is achievable, gives me an inspired determination to succeed. Running a start-up is so exciting, every day brings new challenges and opportunities… there’s never a dull moment!

Is there anything not covered by the above questions that you would like to share with our readers?

I believe that this shift to clean shipping will be powered by end users, by private markets - not by rules or regulation. Just like disruptive start-ups Airbnb and Uber, clean shipping companies like Veer will be the driver of those rules. With the support of major clients such as LUSH, Café William and more, the regulators will find themselves rushing to catch up to regulate the new playing field. n