18th February saw the start of a new project aiming to change the maritime world, the Ventifoil sail assistant system. Promoted by the Interreg North Sea Europe program with the collaboration of different Universities and wind technologies providers and financed by the Jam van Dam Shipping, this system aims to replace fuel in vessels.
The Ventifoil consists of two wings, each 10 meters high that can be extended, in particular cases, by further six meters. The wings use an un-rotating system and inside they have a fan, which creates boundary layer suction to capture air and transforms it into a propelling force, reducing the vessel’s use of fuel. The Ventifoil was designed in only six months and installed 20 days ago on the Ankie, a general cargo ship, property of Jan van Dam Shipping.
At the end of February the Ankie left the port of Delfzijl (Netherland) direct to Hamburg (Germany), it has become the first vessel equipped by eConowind system to sail in the world, writing a new chapter in maritime.
As said many times by the Jan van Dam’s members the aim of this new systems is to introduce step by step the de-carbonisation of energy in the shipping world. The project is in continuous development in order to achieve early as possible the total shipping decarbonization, foresaw by the IMO between the 2030 and the 2050.
Written by Nicolas Spirito.