Maersk to Put a Rotor Sail on a Containership for the First Time
The Return of Sail Power: Cargo Ships Are Turning Back to the Wind
Wind propulsion is moving from niche experiment to real commercial segment: over 100 large merchant ships now use rotor sails, wings and suction systems. Maersk will install a 35-meter rotor sail on an 8,700-TEU containership in 2027, while Vale's Sohar Max already runs five, and tankers and LNG carriers are next. The goal is fuel savings, not a return to sail.
After spending more than a century trying to escape its dependence on the wind, shipping is starting to realize there is little reason to ignore free energy when it is blowing in the right direction.
- darksaints
As both a sailor and a wingsail designer, I've followed this space for a long time. I've gotta say this is just one of the thousands of trial PR announcements for different companies which develop something and think it's gonna save the world.
https://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
We've been seeing these every other year or so ever since the walker wingsail back in the mid 80's:
https://www.change-climate.com/Transport_Land_Sea_Sustainabl...
As to why they are never successful, I don't exactly know. Most of the companies that put these on trial just quietly retire them without adoption, and never explain why. It's not about ease of use, plenty of designs have near 100% automation and simple design. It's not really about maintenance, plenty of designs have almost maintenance-free design as well.
My best guess is that sails/wingsails/rotorsails have inherent height, which interferes with bridges and gantry cranes, and requires furling/stowing capabilities which them makes the systems a lot more complex. My next best guess is that in order to get meaningful propulsion, you introduce heeling, which is bad for container ships and potentially catastrophic for dry bulk.
- JoeAltmaier
A 5% reduction in fuel is significant, especially as cargo ships are responsible for a disproportionate share of petro-pollution. They burn the cheapest petro gunk, emitting tremendous volumes of soot and such.
- 3eb7988a1663
If anyone else was confused why those pictures were of giant tubes and not canvas sails, you are not alone. Apparently those are some version of "Suction Sails". The vendor's website has a graphic that explains it, though it was fighting my ability to scroll.
- alexpotato
Sat next to a fusion researcher once on a commuter train.
This particular line struck me:
"When oil prices go up, so does money for fusion research"
Feels the same for sail and cargo ships.
- acidburnNSA
59 different companies including mine responded to MARAD's recent RFI on nuclear powered merchant ships. Many people are realizing that wind, hydrogen, ammonia, etc are falling short for global scale shipping.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/07/2026-09...
- walrus01
The most recent example, it's somewhat down the page at the gcaptain URL:
- erelong
Possibly related: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2021/05/how-to-design-a-sa...
- WalterBright
This seems to happen once every 20 years.