Orcelle Wind: The world’s first wind-powered RoRo vessel

On June 21st 2022 Wallenius Marine and KNUD E. HANSEN signed an agreement that KNUD E. HANSEN will join the project of designing the world’s first wind-powered RoRo vessel, as Naval Architects.

The vessel will:

• use wind as the main form of propulsion
• operate at speeds of 10-12 knots under sail that can be increased with the supplemental power system
• reduce emissions by as much as 90 percent
• have a capacity to carry 7000 cars along with breakbulk and rolling equipment

The Wallenius Wilhelmsen group (OSE:WAWI) is a world leading global shipping and logistic partner, offering premium end-to-end supply chain management. The company operates over 130 vessels servicing 16 trade routes to six continents, and a global inland distribution network, processing centres, and marine terminals all over the world.

Wallenius Wilhelmsen is on a mission to phase out fossile fuels. Moving forward the company explore realistic alternatives, including the infrastructure for delivering and supporting them. Orcelle Wind is the first vessel from the Oceanbird concept and is one of the alternative paths Wallenius Wilhelmsen is looking into. The group is headquartered in Oslo, Norway with 8,200 employees in 29 countries worldwide.

The Swedish, family-owned shipping company Wallenius Marine offers a complete and sustainable shipping service – from innovative design and newbuilding to ship management. The vision is to lead the way towards truly sustainable shipping. A ZERO emission roadmap led to a wind-powered shipping concept, called Oceanbird, and Wallenius Marine are leading the ship design project for the first vessels from the concept. The wing sail technique is developed by AlfaWall Oceanbird, a joint venture between Alfa Laval and Wallenius.
Source: KNUD E. HANSEN