Schram Shipping has signed a contract with eConowind to help optimise wind assisted propulsion technology.
As part of the collaboration, Schram Shipping will install two of eConowind’s 16 m-tall wind-assist VentiFoil units on the 5,097 dwt general cargo vessel Anna. Retrofitting will be carried out by the end of 2021.
Gerrit Schram, co-owner of Schram Shipping, said: “When we realised the possibility of retrofitting a wind assist unit and how we can save CO2 emissions on our current ship, I was very enthusiastic right away: working with the wind instead of fighting the wind all the time.”
He added: “The installation is relatively simple and operations are hardly impacted at all, so we just want to do this now.”
Schram has involved the company’s commercial manager, Vertom Group, to investigate future deployment of the system. Thomas van Meerkerk of Vertom said: “We are very happy Schram Shipping, who has been sailing for Vertom for over 20 years now, signed this agreement for this Ventifoil project as the first ship of the almost 100 ships in our operations. We will follow the process closely and will study the results of the research tosee what it can bring us in the future.”
