Shipping is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to CO2 emissions and air pollution. The large cargo and passenger ships in the North Sea sail on polluting bunker oil, which contains 100 times as much sulfur as ordinary road diesel. Since there are no requirements for the ships' filters, the substance is typically burned without any form of flue gas cleaning. 

The massive fuel consumption and the missing filters have both major environmental and health consequences. The emission helps to increase global warming and contribute to the faster melting of the ice in the Arctic. At the same time, air pollution is harmful to health and increases the risk of a wide range of serious diseases such as cancer, blood clots and respiratory disorders.  

That is why we are working in the Green Transition Denmark on a large EU project called WASP, which will use wind power to make shipping in the North Sea greener. Through the project, together with a number of foreign shipping companies, universities, technology suppliers and interest organisations, we are investigating how to best utilize wind power technology to reduce fuel consumption on ships in the North Sea.  

With the help of retrofitted sails, optimization of the ships and their routes, as well as better utilization of the weather conditions, we expect to be able to achieve fuel savings of 8-10 percent. On newer ships, it will hopefully be possible to achieve an even greater fuel saving of over 15 percent.

A fuel saving using wind power will therefore both reduce shipowners' expenses, but it will also benefit the economy. Because the reduced air pollution in the area will lead to a lower risk of diseases and less environmental impact. The plan is to spread the experience to global shipping after the end of the project. 

Period: 2019-2022 

Financing: The EU Interreg program and the Energy Fund 

Collaborators: Chalmers University of Technology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kühne Logistics University, Nord University, SSPA, The European Federation for Transport and Environment, International Windship Association, Netherlands Maritime Technology Foundation (project coordinator) and a number of shipping companies including HHX.blue, Rörd Braren and Boomsma Shipping.