Oceanbird

This week’s episode brings us down memory lane. 

Our guest on March 31st, 2021 was Roger Strevens,  VP Global Sustainability at Wallenius Wilhelmsen. Roger shared with us the design and feasibility assessment of the Orcelle Wind, the car carrier that will be powered primarily by wind, killing emissions by up to 90% in comparison to other new-built ships. 

Today, Kat Bride is catching up with Niclas Dahl, managing director of Oceanbird: the Swedish company (joint venture of Alfa Laval and Wallenius) develops and provides technology for wind-powered vessel propulsion. The Oceanbird wing sails will equip the Orcelle Wind. 

Niclas is a true believer of using wind to power the maritime industry toward Zero Emission. He is leading his team “to take the step to try something new”,  developing  top of the art wing sails. 

“In my view, the more mature products today are the wind ones. Wind is a free energy, abundant and, thanks to the enormous progress of the last decades in forecasting, it’s reliable! It’s time to go forward!”, affirms Niclas.

So Niclas Dahl is not wrong when he is saying “There will be early adopters. For the others, I hope they will wake up as soon as possible”

Call for content

Webb Institute, US Merchant Marine Academy, MARIN and Wind Support NYC are pleased to invite you to contribute to our Sustainability in Ship Design and Operations (SISDO 2023) conference on November 6 – 7, 2023. The event will bring industry professionals and academics together to discuss the latest technology, concepts, and case studies, building on the success of our conference from last year. 
 
We are currently accepting abstract submissions – either papers or presentations, as well as poster submissions for our first-ever student poster session.

Important Dates 
May 15, 2023               Abstracts due 
June 1, 2023                Abstract approval notification 
June 15, 2023              Conference registration opens 
July 17, 2023               Paper/presentation draft due 
September 1, 2023     Paper/presentation comments returned 
October 1, 2023          Final content submission 
November 6-7, 2023  Conference at Webb Institute, USMMA

Don’t miss this opportunity, and we look forward to seeing you on November 6th! Mark your calendars!
 

Please see the attachment for more information.

VELA Transport

We are thrilled to introduce our two new guests. They met on a boat and decided to start a shipping company. They both are committed to succeed on their mission, helped by their passion and their business acumen. One is an accomplished athlete, a sailor whose credentials are world-renowned. The other is an engineer who has worked with success in the automobile industry. Together, with three other partners, they launched VELA Transport. François Gabart and Michael Fernandez-Ferri are our guests and we couldn’t be more proud. 

François competes on the ocean with his state-of-the-art SVR Lazartigue while running his company Mer Concept. He recognized early on that his passion and skill in his racing endeavors could be translated into projects that can transform the way people are going to sea, on a ferry or a cruising boat made of flax. 

 

So why not transpose this expertise into maritime transportation, with a goal to reach the sacrosanct Zero Emission? Francois Gabart’s victories in the Vendee Globe in 2012, the Alain Colas Trophy in 2018 and many more, plus the work done by the pioneers at TOWT and Grain de Sail are part of the response. It’s a challenge that Francois, Michael, Pascal Galacteros, Pierre Arnaud Vallon and Thibault Charles from VELA feel they have a good shot at and they want to bank on.