According to IWSA, although the small windship trade that has been operating for thousands of years has never stopped, the number of small vessels under 500 GT sailing using wind as their primary energy source, or using wind-assist wind propulsion technology, has steadily increased in recent years.
As explained, small, working sail vessels represent a potential major growth market. There has been a near-doubling of the sub-500 GT windship fleet in the last 12 months. The opportunity for reducing fossil fuel use on smaller vessels engaged in domestic and international trades makes wind energy an attractive, viable option which is supported by the availability of multiple mature technologies.
Currently, in addition to surviving indigenous sail fleets, there are over twelve traditional sail cargo vessels operating mainly in the Atlantic and North Sea regions along with the SV Kwai operating in the Pacific.
The International Windship Association (IWSA) Small Windships publication brings together lots of information on the small vessel windship fleet, who have been ahead of the curve for decades in all the same market segments as conventional ships, just at a smaller scale.
The results of the small windship vessel survey help inform IWSA’s future work around wind propulsion deployment in the small commercial vessel sector both in developed and lesser developed regions of the world, where maritime transport can be absolutely critical.
The small vessel sector holds great potential for moving large amounts of cargo and making a significant contribution to both lowering emissions from our trading activities at sea but also reducing land base emissions by getting closer to the farm gate/dinner plate, first and last mile impacts of moving goods by truck.
..Gavin Allwright, Secretary General, IWSA said.
Small vessel activity is also vital on certain routes and in vast maritime regions, such as small island/large ocean developing states etc., thus reducing fuel dependency adds significant levels of resilience to these areas.
..Gavin added.
