Spanish wind assisted propulsion system developer bound4blue has underlined the business case for adopting its eSail technology, following release of third party-assessed operational fuel savings on the Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) owned ‘Ville de Bordeaux’ ro-ro vessel.
The vessel, chartered by Airbus, had three 22m bound4blue suction sail units installed in 2024. Bureau Veritas company BV Solution (BVS) assessed the savings over a year, showing an average daily fuel saving of 1.7t, with peak savings of as much as 5.4t/day. These savings are consistent with bound4blue’s initial projections and with the results obtained by LDA using its own methodology, which was grounded in real-time measurements – including fuel consumption data – and incorporated actual weather conditions to ensure accuracy.
The savings reported on the vessel, which transports Airbus sub-assemblies from Europe to the US, were achieved without relying on weather routing and did not account for the significant regulatory advantages of adopting wind propulsion.
The eSails are claimed to generate exceptional lift, producing greater propulsive force, and enabling significantly greater savings, per square meter than competing technologies like rigid sails. This is believed to provide equivalent savings with six to seven times less surface area, allowing for more compact installations, with reduced deck space requirements, lighter weight, and easier retrofitting across a wide range of vessel types.
The sails are highly adaptable, delivering effective performance across diverse wind conditions and directions, from side winds to upwind scenarios. They are thus thought to offer a versatile and scalable solution for global shipping routes, being suited for vessels operating at higher speeds.
David Ferrer, CTO bound4blue, said: “We’re thrilled to see this hard-working vessel making significant daily savings, with really exciting peak numbers that demonstrate huge potential. These results showcase how existing vessels – and not just newbuilds that have been designed for energy efficiency and wind propulsion – can harness this clean, renewable and accessible power source for transformative benefits. The Ville de Bordeaux is a specialised ro-ro vessel, providing continuous logistics solutions for the aeronautic industry, but the eSails’ ability to generate lift from shallow angles means the system produced compelling results day-in day-out. This has been a great project, and we’d like to thank all our partners for their support and collaboration.”
Awareness of eSail performance and flexibility is said to be growing fast within the industry, with recent installations onboard vessels owned by Odfjell, Eastern Pacific Shipping and Louis Dreyfus Company, while significant orders have been placed by Maersk Tankers, Marflet Marine and Klaveness Combination Carriers, among others. Regulatory benefits have been a key driver for uptake, with bound4blue’s suction sails not only reducing fuel consumption but also delivering significant savings relating to compliance. The lower fuel consumption enabled by the units directly reduces GHG emissions, resulting in measurable benefits under the FuelEU Maritime regulation and the EU ETS. These regulatory savings can be significant, further strengthening the business case.
Mathieu Muzeau, MD Transport and Logistics, LDA, said: “We were excited to set sail with bound4blue technology to determine ‘real world’ results and explore fuel and emissions savings, helping us deliver more sustainable maritime services to our clients. It’s hugely rewarding to see the scale of savings enabled through this early adoption, while the performance achieved was also noteworthy – with a boost to vessel speed – as was the complete simplicity of operation. We look forward to many more tonnes of saved fuel, and reduced emissions, in the years to come.”
Camille Blayo, BVS Ship Performance Engineer, commented: “The collaboration with LDA and bound4blue provided an exciting opportunity to validate further our methodology using an extensive dataset collected from onboard measurements. Thanks to our advanced ship energy modelling, we are able to thoroughly analyse the various factors contributing to fuel consumption, based on the vessel’s operating conditions and environments. This analysis was made possible through the combination of CFD-based assessment of hydro-aero loads, detailed machinery modelling and the eSails performance polars provided by bound4blue”.
As well as reducing emissions and fuel expenditure for vessels throughout the world fleet, wind is thought to be the only power source actively rewarded through FuelEU Maritime (Wind Reward Factor), while helping drive down emissions for EU ETS and positively impacting upon CII ratings, amongst other benefits. bound4blue says its eSails have a typical payback period of less than five years and are suitable for either newbuilds or retrofitting across a diverse array of vessel segments including tankers, bulkers, ro-ros, cruises, ferries, gas carriers, and general cargo vessels.
Image: bound4blue eSails have been shown to achieve significant savings in fuel and emissions for LDA (source: bound4blue)
