{"id":99687,"date":"2026-02-23T13:56:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/894799794"},"modified":"2026-02-23T13:56:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:56:52","slug":"mechanical-sales-and-wind-power-are-no-longer-a-shipping-niche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/mechanical-sales-and-wind-power-are-no-longer-a-shipping-niche\/","title":{"rendered":"Mechanical sales and wind power are no longer a shipping niche"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new white paper has been published on the history of modern wind-powered ferries and cargo vessels, predicting future breakthroughs beyond hardware.  <\/strong><\/p>\n

Ville Paakkari, Head of R&D at Norsepower, and Henrik Sj\u00f6blom, Vice President, Business Concepts, at Kongsburg Maritime, have set out a mechanical sail taxonomy for the very first time. The timeline of development spans more than 100 years, and looks to offer more clarity on a rapidly evolving area of transport and logistics. <\/p>\n

According to these experts, the future of shipping is wind propulsion, and with the first generation of mechanical sails appearing as prototypes in the 1920s, we should not be looking at this technology as niche or experimental. Progressing from isolated solution to fully integrated ship and fleet level systems, this year will see more rollout of a third generation design which balances 50% engine with 50% wind propulsion, dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n

Already beginning to appear on individual vessels \u2013 including Stena Line ferries between Belfast, Ireland and Heysham, Lancashire \u2013 within the next decade we should see the focus switch to whole-fleet operations. Meanwhile, by 2050 a logistics-centric approach will become the norm, at which point passenger and freight boats could run almost entirely on wind. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2018The industry is at a transition point,\u2019 said Paakkari. \u2018As regulations tighten and digitalisation accelerates, understanding the difference between sail-centric and system-centric solutions becomes essential. This taxonomy is intended as a practical tool to support better technical, commercial and regulatory decisions.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Introducing technologies from the \u201ceureka\u201d-moment to commercial standards, always goes through generations,\u2019 added Sj\u00f6blom. \u2018With the taxonomy we can pinpoint where we are now, how we have gotten here and give a view of our insight in where we are going next. Today we can establish that wind propulsion is a valid solution, suitable for sophisticated vessel integration. It will be interesting to see when \u2013 not if \u2013 the next generations will take traction.\u2019<\/p>\n

Image: <\/strong>Norsepower<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… modern wind-powered ferries and cargo<\/span> vessels, predicting future breakthroughs beyond … these experts, the future of shipping<\/span> is wind propulsion, and with … , at which point passenger and freight<\/span> boats could run almost entirely …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}