The Motor/Wind combi vessel, MS Beluga SkySails was christened in December 2007. The unique ship uses a combination of traditional motor propulsion augmented with a giant para sail for additional wind powered thrust. Ships using the SkySails system can experience savings in fuel use from 10 to 35%.
DHL Global Forwarding has booked the first of a series of project shipments using the Beluga vessel on behalf of DGF customer Dieffenbacher GmBH. The project covers eight shipments of a particle board factory. The initial shipment will be 10,000 metric tons in size.
Use of the wind aided ship is part of DHL's overall GOGREEN initiative to make shipments carbon neutral to protect the environment. DHL GOGREEN applies to both DHL Express and DHL Global Forwarding shipments.
The Beluga Shipping-owned MS Beluga SkySails, the world's first cargo vessel with an innovative towing kite system will sail from Hamburg-based SkySails, is being used for commercial transport for the first time.
It will carry the first part of a complete particleboard factory across the Atlantic from Bremen in Germany to Venezuela on behalf of DHL Global Forwarding, the ocean and airfreight arm of the Deutsche Post World Net Group.
The multipurpose vessel will set sail early next week. What makes it so special is a new wind propulsion system with a huge towing kite that provides additional thrust to the ship at sea - a sustainable solution for reducing fuel consumption, costs and emissions.
Once the diesel-powered ship is out at sea, it will unfurl a an especially designed flying sail to supplement its engines with wind power. A computer will adjust the height and the angle of the sail, developed over a period of four years by Hamburg-based SkySails.
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