Dual-fuel gas carrier fitted with rotor sails

Finnish cleantech firm Norsepower has installed two 20-meter-high rotor sails on a very large dual-fuel liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrier, to enable wind-assisted propulsion.

PHOTO: Dual-fuel LPG carrier, Oceanus Aurora, fitted with Norsepower rotor sails. Norsepower

Rotor sails are a modernised version of Flettner rotor, which uses the Magnus effect to create air pressure and generate rotational lift. This technology allows the vessel's main engine to throttle back under favourable wind conditions, consuming less fuel while maintaining operational speed.

This system “bolsters the main propulsion, resulting in reduced fuel consumption, emissions, and fuel costs,” Norsepower explained.

The vessel, Oceanus Aurora, is owned by Japanese shipping company IINO Kaiun Kaisha (IINO Lines) and chartered by Austrian chemical company Borealis. It operates on a route between Houston, USA and Stenungsund, Sweden or Porvoo, Finland.

Norsepower estimates that its wind-assisted propulsion system will cut the vessel’s fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by approximately 4% on this route.

By Konica Bhatt

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