Influences on general dry cargo vessels’ operation using ventifoils

Abstract

As the world faces various environmental questions, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set a new target for all merchant ships to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions by 50% until 2050 compared to 2008. This is the reason why experts in the maritime industry have started to look for solutions to reduce the emissions from vessels. One of the available ideas is not new but an innovative revival of the old concepts of wind assisted-based propulsion. This thesis aims to investigate the expected, perceived, and potential impact of wind propulsion technologies, particularly of ventifoils (also known as suction wings), on vessel operations. Additionally, the importance of crew members in working with ventifoils will be examined. To address the objective of this thesis, a qualitative research approach based on interviews was adopted in order to get an understanding of the market and operational changes from the perspective of an experienced and of a potential user of ventifoils, and a ventifoils’ provider. The results show that the installation of retrofitted ventifoils and containerized (flatrack) units, assisting traditional propulsion systems on board general dry cargo vessels, has an influence on the operations on board. In terms of crew’s workload, it increases mostly in the loading and discharging process, adding more responsibilities to crew members. Additionally, in order to operate the units properly, crew members are required to have good knowledge about the ventifoils on how they can use them properly and acquire motivation and awareness to work with the systems.