Smart Green Shiping in the News
Smart Green Shipping joins forces with NTS as part of environmental shipping initiative
June 1, 2023: Smart Green Shipping (SGS) is delighted to announce their collaboration with Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS) as part of the ‘Winds of Change’ project which held its first in-person kick-off meeting on Wednesday May 3rd at the University of Southampton. ‘Winds of Change’ is a deeply collaborative 2-year project to assess technical, commercial and environmental viability of using 21st century wing sail designs to provide direct thrust to commercial ships.
NTS is the leading global provider of safe, secure and reliable nuclear transport solutions that make the world safer and more sustainable. As part of the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, NTS uses its specialist transport and logistics expertise to help customers and partners around the world solve complex challenges.
The Pacific Grebe is one of a fleet of three specialist vessels in the Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL) fleet. The fleet, over its history, has safely covered millions of miles shipping a range of nuclear materials to the likes of Japan, Europe and USA.
Di Gilpin, SGS CEO, said: “To have the opportunity to work with such a highly specialist ship and her deeply knowledgeable crew and managers gives us an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the feasibility of retrofitting SGS FastRigTM wingsails onto ships with the highest safety standards. If we are successful this will give comfort to shipowners and managers that this technology will not compromise their strict safety protocols.
“Testing the FastRig on land initially ensures we iron out any technical glitches before installing on a working vessel. We are honoured to be able to work with NTS. Our commercial project partners, Drax and MOL Dry Bulk are working with SGS and NTS to define parameters for sea trials; our technical team includes Humphreys Yacht Design, designers of the FastRig; Caley Ocean Systems and Malin Group, FastRig manufacturers and Houlder who take responsibility for the ship to wing interface. The University of Southampton is working with SGS on verifying real world performance results against the mathematical modelling that predicted between 16% and 27% fuel/GHG savings over an annual period.”
Andy Milling, Marine Manager, at NTS said of the collaboration: “As owners of UK-flagged, high-quality specialist vessels, we are committed to support UK shipping net zero initiatives. We are looking forward to working with SGS to address the highly complex technical challenges that arise from retrofitting wind-assist technology onto merchant vessels.
“Our motivation is to reduce vessel emissions whilst maintaining our high performance and critical delivery schedules. SGS has convened a group of highly experienced technical and commercial organisations to deliver the project and its exciting to see how we will implement this technology with safety, security and reliability remaining our top priorities.”
Smart Green Shipping is a systems design and engineering company based in Dumfries that is developing unique retrofit sails and technology for sustainable commercial ships. It collaborates with the University of Southampton, Humphreys Yacht Design, Houlder, Malin Group, Caley Ocean Systems, Argo Engineering, Lloyd’s Register, MOL DryBulk and Drax. The ‘Winds of Change’ project will run from April 2023 to March 2025. SGS is currently installing a land-based test and demonstration FastRig at Hunterston Parc in Scotland. The learning from this project informs the safety, technical and performance parameters for the on-ship installation scheduled for2024.
The ‘Winds of Change’ project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 3 (CMDC3), which was announced in September 2022, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with InnovateUK. As part of the CMDC3, the Department allocated £60m to 19 flagship projects supported by 92 UK organisations to deliver real world demonstration R&D projects in clean maritime solutions. Projects will take place in multiple locations around the UK from as far north as the Shetland Isles and as far south as Cornwall.
The CMDC3 is part of the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emission’s (UK SHORE) flagship multi-year CMDC programme. In March 2022, the Department announced the biggest government investment ever in our UK commercial maritime sector, allocating £206m to UK SHORE, a new division within the Department for Transport focused on decarbonising the maritime sector. UK SHORE is delivering a suite of interventions throughout 2022-2025 aimed at accelerating the design, manufacture and operation of UK-made clean maritime technologies and unlocking an industry-led transition to Net Zero.
Smart Green Shipping celebrates new wave of investment from MOL Drybulk Ltd and Scottish Enterprise
Smart Green Shipping is a systems design and engineering company based in Dumfries that is developing unique retrofit sails and technology for sustainable commercial ships and is celebrating further growth following a £1.35million investment round.
MOL Drybulk Ltd (MOLDB) and Scottish Enterprise are joint investors in the company that is steering a course to a demonstration FastRig wingsail later this year alongside its industry partners at Peel Ports Hunterston Port and Resource Centre (Hunterston PARC.)
MOLDB is a 100% owned subsidiary of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. (MOL), a shipping company headquartered in Japan with global operations.
President and Representative Director of MOL Drybulk Kazuhiko Kikuchi said: “MOL is committed to decarbonisation within our industry and Scotland is at the forefront of many environmentally friendly solutions, whilst our investment in Smart Green Shipping furthers our commitment to the UK.”
Smart Green Shipping received a £1.8million grant from Scottish Enterprise last year towards a research and development project with a total value of £5million, match funded by the private sector.
The latest investment further supports the company’s growth and director of entrepreneurship and investment at Scottish Enterprise Kerry Sharp said: “Our investment alongside MOLDB will encourage innovation and growth in an exciting Scottish-based company with international potential that is creating jobs and sustainable shipping solutions, vital for a greener economy.
“Scottish Enterprise continues to invest in projects with positive impact on the planet and people which is exemplified by Smart Green Shipping and I look forward to seeing its demonstrator FastRig tested at Hunterston PARC as we work with the company on its growth.”
Smart Green Shipping is developing solutions to enable the reduction of emissions from certain ship types by at least 20% as forecast via tests supported by the Innovate UK programme on a large commercial cargo ship.
Smart Green Shipping’s FastRig wingsail technology is enabled by a fuel saving prediction tool, supported by the European Space Agency business incubation centre.
The company has progressed its project from its base in Dumfries working alongside Caley Ocean Systems and Malin in Glasgow and will retrofit its technology onto ships for commercial demonstration next year following a testing phase at Hunterston PARC.
Smart Green Shipping has also recently been nominated for an Earthshot Prize through involvement with the Solar Impulse Foundation and stemming from work around COP26.
Chief Executive of Smart Green Shipping Diane Gilpin said: “Wind-assist is the only technology that can support global shipping’s GHG reduction in line with International Panel on Climate Change advice – emissions must start reducing rapidly if we are to avoid temperature increases of more than 1.5 degrees.
“The shipping industry knows this and with the introduction of various new emission reduction regulations this year and next there is a strong interest for FastRigs. Having MOL on-board is a real benefit for us, they bring deep market and operational knowledge.
“That they are partnering with Scottish Enterprise in investing together underlines Scotland’s commitment to this new global market for renewable energy that Scotland is already so good at. There’s a huge amount of in and cross sector learning going on in this collaboration .”
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About SGS
Smart Green Shipping was formed in 2014 by Diane Gilpin to develop physical and technical solutions to reduce emissions from the global shipping industry and brings together a team of specialists with backgrounds in shipping, high value manufacturing, data science and finance. The company works across the shipping ecosystem from ship owners, operators to investors and cargo owners to design environmentally, commercially and technically viable ships.
Learn more about how the FastRigs technology works here.
For press queries please contact Namrata Nadkarni at Intent Communications Ltd: namrata@intentcommunications.co.uk
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Smart Green Shipping announces £5m investment into FastRig wing sail technology
Three-year project backed by the Scottish Government and industry will develop and test fully automated, emission-reduction sail technology that can be retrofitted to merchant ships
Collaborative three-year R&D project brings together major industry players including Malin, Drax, Peel Ports and Lloyd's Register
The wind technology project will deliver a demonstrator on a commercial ship by 2023
Smart Green Shipping's FastRig automated sail technology is compatible with up to 40,000 ships currently operating in the merchant fleet and can deliver at least 20% fuel savings and associated GHG reductions
Lloyds Register has granted 1st stage Approval in Principle for FastRig technology
Smart Green Shipping (SGS) has today launched a £5m research and development project for its fully automated FastRigs wing sail technology and digital routing software that will harness the power of wind to deliver major fuel and emissions savings for the shipping industry. The collaborative three-year programme has been made possible by a £3.2m investment from the private sector, which unlocked a further £1.8m grant from Scottish Enterprise.
SGS founder Diane Gilpin said, "Scotland's decision to support this project shows that wind technology has the might of a maritime nation behind it. Shipping has a long history of harnessing the power of wind, but digital technologies are allowing us to work towards making zero emission vessels a reality. Smart Green Shipping's FastRig wing sail technology offers a financially and technically robust solution to help support shipping’s green transition.”
Scottish Business Minister Ivan McKee said: “The FastRig project is an excellent example of how innovation can help us progress in low carbon technologies and ensure Scotland is playing its part in these developments, creating more green jobs and business opportunities to take us on a Mission Zero for transport.”
Over the course of the project SGS will initially test its FastRig wing sails at a land based site at Peel Ports Hunterston Port and Resource Centre in collaboration with Clyde-based specialist engineering partner Malin. It will further develop its weather routing TradeWind software that creates route plans for wind optimisation. Following successful land based tests, a demonstrator on board a vessel is expected to be tested by 2023.
Major industry partners include Drax, Malin, Peel Ports and LR, who, alongside SGS’s naval architects, consulted with crews and marine engineers, and have already optimised the technology and design to ensure easy retrofitting and cargo access during port operations.
Will Gardiner, CEO, Drax Group, said: “Reducing emissions from global shipping will be one of the key challenges of the energy transition. Drax has been a long term partner of Smart Green Shipping because we’re excited by their wind assisted sail technologies and the impact these technologies could have on our supply chain.”
Lloyd’s Register has granted 1st stage Approval in Principle for the FastRig technology, which augments a ship's powertrain.
Tom Wolodarsky, Technical Authority for Wind Propulsion Systems, Lloyd’s Register said: “LR is dedicated to supporting the development and safe adoption of green technologies that will contribute to decarbonising the maritime sector and the FastRig wing sail technology will help shipowners with the transition ahead. We have now successfully completed the 1st stage of Approval in Principle of the technology which can assist in providing assurance to industry and demonstrate WAPS technology is a safe, viable option which follows well established, independent standards.”
The FastRig technology is expected to benefit up to 40,000 vessels in the global merchant fleet - primarily bulker and tanker ships. Modelling tests, undertaken by SGS in conjunction with the University of Southampton’s Wolfson Unit, show that the technology could create at least at least 20% fuel savings and GHG reductions for retrofits, with as much as 50% fuel savings possible for small and medium sized new build ships.
Ben Potter, Director of Malin Equipment, which will provide manufacturing capability and specialist engineering input for the FastRig demonstrator, said: “This is a perfect fit for Malin Equipment – an innovative project that enables us to draw on our deep maritime engineering experience to build on local inventiveness to create rugged, robust and reliable equipment. It is straightforward to retrofit and provides real short-term emissions solutions for global shipping to revolutionise the industry.”
The three-year project will address barriers to wider industry uptake to the technology, with a host of technical, digital and financing solutions. In addition to creating agreements with renewables finance providers to fund installations of the technology onboard ships, the SGS team is developing insurance products that will give confidence of predictable financial returns to commercial operators.
The TradeWind tool has been optimised to gather data that will allow vessels to maximise the use of wind for a journey and optimise a vessel’s routing to minimise fuel consumption and arrive at a port at a designated time - ensuring compatibility with Just In Time arrival operations. Data from Tradewind can be used to underpin charter agreements as well as secure private funding to lease the technology.
The FastRigs technology has been developed alongside industry, with a year-long InnovateUK and Institute of Mechanical Engineers-backed feasibility study in 2018 and in-depth consultations with the wider shipping industry to overcome obstacles to adopting the innovation, including funding mechanisms. SGS developed its digital tools to predict and optimise wind-use in shipping in collaboration with the European Space Agency business incubation centre in 2019.
Notes to editor
Media can watch the live stream of the launch at 15.30pm 28th July here
Photos of SGS Founder Diane Gilpin and images and videos of the FastRigs technology can be downloaded here