Kitesurfers are known for their massive airs and impressive speeds, as well as the ability to cause envy in surfers trapped in crowded lineups amid weak swells. Now a technology similar to the parafoils used in kitesurfing is being developed for cargo ships. Seawing is a new device being tested to help propel cargo ships and reduce their fuel consumption and cut carbon emissions by an average of 20 percent,, as CNN reports.
Seawing is a project developed by the French company Airseas, which was founded by Airbus engineers Vincent Bernatets and Benoît Gagnaire. The Seawing is a 1,000-square-meter kite, flying 300 meters above the water and attached to a ship via a 700-meter long cable. The entire system is completely automated, with no crew intervention required. A control panel on the bridge activates automated deck equipment that releases the wing from storage and inflates it at the top of a mast for takeoff. Once in the air, the wing is auto piloted by a flight control pod attached to the kite itself, which then relays information to the vessel via an umbilical cord.
“What differentiates it from other wind solutions,” Airseas CEO Vincent Bernatets told CNN, “is that the wing is not just pulled by the wind and countered by the ship.” He went on to explain that the wing flies in a figure eight pattern, which multiplies the pulling power of the device. “Plus, we fetch the wind 300 meters above the sea surface, where it’s 50 percent more powerful,” Bernatets added.
The system promises a lot of power in a small package, which can also be retrofitted to existing ships. As a result, CNN reports that Aairseas has received $2.7 million in funding from the EU, and already has orders from Airbus and Japanese shipping company “K” Line. It hopes to have the technology fully operational by the end of 2025.
For more than a year, a 250-square-meter version of the Seawing has been tested on a cargo ship chartered by Airbus. This May, the company announced that the kite had successfully towed the ship. In December, it will begin testing its “dynamic” figure eight flights.
“It’s also a huge enabler for future green fuels,” Bernatets said. “We allow green fuels to be introduced sooner, both because we save some of the cost, making them more competitive, but also because we reduce the amount of green fuel needed on a ship — which today is a main hurdle, because when you have larger tanks, you can carry less load.”
“The fact that we want to contribute to reducing the environmental footprint of shipping, it’s the reason why we’re here — it drives our energy to the next level,” Bernatets added. “We are absolutely convinced that wind is really the next big thing that will radically change and maybe revolutionize shipping.”
