The Spirit of Toulouse ship, built by LD Armateurs, has recently completed the installation of six rotating sails. This ship, which is 168 meters long, has become the largest RoRo (Roll-on/Roll-off) ship with wind-assisted power and is specifically designed to transport aircraft parts for Airbus.
Details of the Sail Installation
The installation of the rotating sails was carried out at a shipyard in Shanghai, China. Each of these six rotating sails is 35 meters tall and 5 meters in diameter. These sails utilize the Magnus effect to extract additional force from the wind, reducing the load on the ship's main engines, which in turn decreases the ship's fuel consumption.
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The Spirit of Toulouse also has two dual-fuel main engines and two generator sets that can operate on various fuels such as electric methanol, bio-methanol, or marine diesel oil. This combination is designed to reduce fuel consumption and pollution without complete reliance on alternative fuels.
Airbus's Goals and Vision
The Spirit of Toulouse is the first of three sister ships being built for LD Armateurs under a lease from Airbus. The other two ships, Spirit of Mobile and Spirit of Mirabel, will also each have six rotating sails. These ships are designed to transport the largest aircraft assemblies between Airbus's production facilities in Europe and North America and will replace Airbus's current fleet for transit transport.
Airbus expects the new fleet to reduce CO2 emissions by 33,000 tons annually by 2030. This reduction depends on improving the efficiency of the ships, wind power, and the availability of lower-emission fuels.
According to Heikki Pöntinen, CEO of Norsepower, "The completion of the installation of six rotating sails on the Spirit of Toulouse is an important milestone for wind power in the RoRo shipping sector." This ship was unveiled in February and is now being prepared for sea trials where the sails will be tested.
This project represents a significant advancement in the use of wind power in the commercial maritime fleet. According to the International Wind Ship Association, over 100 large commercial ships are expected to be equipped with wind power systems by June 2026, which is nearly five times the number from 2022 when only 21 large ships had these systems.
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