Press & Media
Smart Green Shipping Roundtable Aims to Drive Scotland’s Green Growth
Reflecting on the International Maritime Organization’s World Maritime Day theme, ‘Our Ocean, Our Obligation, Our Opportunity’, the event, organised with the support of the Scottish Government, brought together key stakeholders from maritime, investment, technology, and policy. They explored how Scotland can seize the economic opportunity of scaling globally exportable clean maritime solutions by closing the gap between R&D funding and commercialisation.
Glasgow, 25 September 2025: Smart Green Shipping (SGS), pioneers of retrofittable Clydebuilt wind-assist technology for global shipping, convened a high-level roundtable to address critical scale up (Series A) investment gaps. These threaten Scotland’s opportunity to capitalise on the trillion-dollar global market opportunity offered by shipping’s green transition. The discussion, moderated by one of Scotland’s most highly regarded maritime business experts, Patrick Carnie, focused on end-to-end funding and support for Scotland’s proven, globally exportable clean maritime technologies. These can stimulate economic growth for Scotland and make significant contributions to emissions reduction.
Smart Green Shipping Founder & CEO Diane Gilpin said, “Last year SGS built, tested and proved, through extensive sea trials, that FastRigs, our robust Scottish built lightweight, automated wingsails save double-digit emissions on suitable ship types. The Department for Transport estimates up to 40,000 ships in the global fleet could deploy wind-assist solutions.”
"SGS exemplifies the scale of the opportunity for Scotland from global shipping’s green transition. We’ve collaborated across Scottish maritime through deep co-operation with Caley Ocean Systems and the Malin Group. Having benefitted from Scottish Enterprise support in the high-risk R&D stage, we’d love to be able to build out this global opportunity by working with National Manufacturing Institute of Scotland to design and deploy new high value manufacturing systems to underpin new business models that are driven by novel digital systems that optimise performance and innovative financial and legal arrangements. We’d like to see public investment recouped and reinvested into future innovation. Building on Scotland’s deep expertise in energy and maritime we can create good green jobs across Scotland and the wider UK, kickstarting economic growth, contributing to the UK becoming a green energy superpower,” she concluded.
Held at the historic Malin Group Rotunda building in Glasgow, the manufacturing roundtable brought together senior representatives from the Scottish Government Economic Growth Unit, Scottish Enterprise, National Manufacturing Institute of Scotland, National Wealth Fund, the National Shipbuilding Office, Malin Group, Caley, Drax, Greenbackers, G-NRGY, Zem Fuels & SESL, the University of Strathclyde, and the Scottish North American Business Council. Held under the Chatham House Rule, the discussions centred on unlocking barriers to growth, creating the right conditions for innovation, and developing financial support mechanisms to help scale clean maritime technologies. Participants also explored the potential payback for Scotland — from green jobs and skills to intellectual property and exports — while highlighting wider business opportunities and long-term impacts across the economy.
Patrick Carnie, Non-Executive Director at the Scottish Maritime Cluster, said “In Scotland, as in many countries, too few people see the scale of the opportunity before us — we suffer from ‘seablindness’. This has long limited the engagement of investors, policymakers, and innovators in the Maritime sector. Yet there are signs of change. As UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport Keir Mather MP highlighted at London International Shipping Week, government now recognises the need to tackle scale-up barriers if we are to fully capitalise on maritime markets and the transition to zero emissions.”
He continued, “By building on Scotland’s strengths in renewables, oil and gas, manufacturing, and shipbuilding, we can drive a broader industrial shift, unlock green jobs, develop future-ready skills, and secure Scotland and the UK’s leadership in a sustainable, globally connected maritime economy. Targeted investment in proven, near-to-market technologies is a significant catalyst for wider, long-term benefits. Successful clean maritime businesses create high value, sustainable jobs across manufacturing, deep tech, legal, financial, intellectual property, and a variety of other sectors. This can reinforce Scotland and the UK’s leadership in this vital sector while driving sustainable economic growth across the world.”
Smart Green Shipping will publish a report, summarising the discussions and setting out the next steps and actions agreed at the roundtable.
Insider - Unlocking value from shipping’s urgent green transition
Scotland stands poised to seize a significant global opportunity in the rapidly expanding wind-assist technology market, projected to surpass $40bn by 2034.
Stricter international climate regulations, ambitious EU sustainability goals and increasing customer demand are driving a rapid shift toward cleaner, greener shipping. This creates a prime opportunity for strategic, patient investment in near-market technology to gain an early foothold.
Kaiji Press - 風力推進装置、成果連動型契約も 英SGS社、リース提供で短期運用にも対応
Kazuhiro Tsushima - Kaiji Press
Smart Green Shipping (SGS), a UK startup, is advancing the commercialization of its uniquely developed wind-assisted propulsion device for ships, "FastRig." Utilizing the lightweight aluminum system, which allows for easy installation and removal, the company proposes flexible schemes to facilitate adoption by shipowners and charterers. These include offering the device through a leasing model and providing outcome-based contracts that share fuel efficiency savings between shipowners and charterers. To achieve this, they aim to accurately predict the fuel efficiency benefits in advance.
Maritime Bridge Japan - 3 Part Interview: Interview with Diane Gilpin, Founder of Smart Green Shipping スマート・グリーン・シッピング創業者 ダイアン・ギルピン氏に聞く
Hirofumi Yamamoto - Maritime Bridge Japan
Smart Green Shipping (SGS), a start-up company based in Scotland, UK, is an emerging enterprise developing fuel-saving technologies for ships using wind power. Its main products are the retractable wing sail system “FastRig” and the weather-based route optimisation tool “FastRoute.”
TradeWinds - Drax inks deal to install UK wind tech on chartered vessel
Craig Eason - TradeWinds
Wind tech start-up Smart Green Shipping has signed an agreement with UK renewable energy provider Drax to install its wing sail on a chartered vessel.
Sea trials of the FastRig rigid wing sail around the British coast were completed this year.
SGS’ FastRig and FastRoute Validated by Success of Sea Trials
Smart Green Shipping’s successful sea trials of wind-assisted propulsion system FastRig have confirmed its time-efficient installation and removal quayside, safe integration into onboard operations, and independently verified the accuracy of the performance modelling tool, FastRoute.
London, 29 May 2025: Smart Green Shipping (SGS) has released the results of recent sea trials of its cutting-edge FastRig wind-assisted propulsion system (WAPS), conducted in late 2024 aboard the MV Pacific Grebe, a nuclear waste carrier. Despite the technical challenges involved with installation on such a specialised vessel, the SGS team successfully installed the lightweight FastRig dockside via its streamlined easy-on/easy-off installation process, carried out intensive sea trials, and then rapidly uninstalled the system to the satisfaction of the ship owner and the Class Society — on budget and within 8 weeks.
Diane Gilpin, CEO at Smart Green Shipping, said, “Our recent sea trials have demonstrated the FastRig’s ability to address key market concerns, such as time away from commercial operations, impact on vessel structure and operational safety (particularly visibility), and additional energy consumption to power WAPs. Our customers, collaborators, and investors now have clear evidence that FastRig’s lightweight, stowable design reduces the need for extensive deck reinforcement and eliminates reliance on active fans or rotors. This has the added benefit of minimising energy use onboard while enabling time-efficient installations and removals quayside or in alignment with planned drydock schedules — supporting ship owners, charterers and those in the spot market with simplified access to wind as a free, renewable and futureproof source of energy.”
In an industry first, SGS chartered its own vessel to conduct trials in full accordance with scientifically rigorous International Towing Tank Conference (ITTC) protocols. This approach ensured complete, unrestricted access to operational data — allowing for a holistic assessment of vessel performance and overall impact, rather than isolating the performance of FastRig alone. This facilitated independent verification of the accuracy of SGS’ performance modelling tool, FastRoute, by The University of Southampton and Houlder, a UK-based clean technology consultancy for marine and offshore environments — enhancing industry confidence in commercial agreements and confirming the FastRig’s ability to deliver fuel savings of up to 40% per annum.
The FastRig has a small deck footprint which minimises impact on deck space for cargo or operations. Its automated operations make it intuitive to use, minimising additional administrative burden for crew. Fully stowable on deck and with a radar that independently addresses loss of visibility, the FastRig ensures safety of operations when in port as well as at sea in high or low winds. The unique design makes use of commercially available parts in innovative ways, ensuring that maintenance can be timely and cost-effective. When combined with the FastRoute’s route optimisation tool, fuel and emission savings can rise to a factor of 1.5.
Among SGS’ sponsors is Drax Group, one of the world’s largest producers and users of sustainably sourced biomass for renewable energy generation. Mark Gibbens, Head of Logistics at Drax, said, “Sustainability advances most rapidly when the market has access to scalable, affordable and futureproof solutions enabling reduced emissions and regulatory compliance. Wind as an energy source is freely available, renewable, and — with green technology providers like Smart Green Shipping — capable of supporting shipping with its goal of Net Zero, while empowering cargo owners to reduce Scope 3 emissions in their own supply chains.”
With FastRig’s benefits proven in real-world maritime conditions, SGS has advanced to commercial deployment. The team is actively collaborating with industry partners to scale wind propulsion across global fleets — backed by a proven track record of delivering complex projects to the highest standards, on time and within tight operational schedules.
These landmark sea trials were delivered as part of the Winds of Change project, supported by the UK Government’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 3 (CMDC3).
SAFETY4SEA - Charting a green course: The potential of wind in shipping industry’s future
by Diane Gilpin
The shipping industry has long been aware of the pressing need for greater fuel efficiency, driven by rising operational costs and growing environmental concerns.
While much of the focus has been on alternative fuel sources and improving traditional propulsion systems, there’s a rising buzz around wind-assisted technology as a potential game-changer.
SAFETY4SEA - 2025 GREEN4SEA Athens Forum
During the 2025 GREEN4SEA Athens Forum, Diane Gilpin, Founder & CEO, Smart Green Shipping Alliance, focused on the journey of wind-assisted propulsion from concept to reality. Her presentation emphasized the potential of wind as a renewable energy source to complement other propulsion methods, offering an innovative solution to help the industry meet its environmental goals.
Listen below:
MCA - Securing a greener future with cleaner maritime technology
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has been supporting the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC).
MCA’s role in delivery of this programme is particularly key when a project involves the integration of an innovative technology with an existing ship, as a recent example the MCA supported the integration and subsequent sea-trials of a 20m wing sail developed by a consortium led by Smart Green Shipping, with the sail being retrofit to the UK-flagged Pacific Grebe.
SAFETY4SEA - Pioneers of green shipping shine at the 2025 GREEN4SEA Awards
The Editorial Team - SAFETY4SEA
Diane Gilpin, Founder & CEO, Smart Green Shipping, received the 2025 GREEN4SEA Personality Award for her groundbreaking innovation in advancing a greener future for the maritime industry. As a pioneer in renewable energy solutions, she advocates for wind propulsion to accelerate the industry’s transition, taking significant action. Notably, she has developed the Future Automated Sail Technology (FastRig) in collaboration with key partners.
SAFETY4SEA - 2025 GREEN4SEA Athens Forum: Stakeholders and regulators turning the tide on green shipping
The Editorial Team - SAFETY4SEA
Diane Gilpin, Founder & CEO, Smart Green Shipping Alliance, focused on the journey of wind-assisted propulsion from concept to reality.
IWSA Wind Propulsion Survey
The International Windship Association has launched this comprehensive survey to gauge perceptions of wind propulsion technology in the shipping sector. Your participation would be most appreciated to give IWSA the best, most comprehensive data to help drive this important sector.
Logistics UK - The Green Miles: 9 Below Zero
Maritime innovator takes The Green Miles' nine question challenge.
Enabling the move away from fossil-powered ships is Diane Gilpin's Smart Green Shipping (SGS), an innovative company helping modern vessels harness the power of the wind using 21st century, digitally-enabled technology.
Logistics UK - Pushing the boat out
The shipping industry turns to giant high-tech wings.
"Why didn't I think of that?" You may well ask. After all, it is a simple premise - huge 20-metre wings that propel cargo ships and reduce carbon emissions. When bolted to a vessel’s decks and sitting upright, the wing, called FastRig, will act as a sail harnessing the power of wind.
Smart Green Shipping (SGS), the company that has developed the device, and some of the world’s leading shipowners are convinced that it can provide clean power to supplement ships’ engines.
TradeWinds - Di Gilpin: ‘Wind energy is not some hippy-yachtie greenwash’
Di Gilpin for TradeWinds
The main problem in shipping that I’d fix is the failure to grasp that wind energy is not some hippy-yachtie greenwash, that the shipping fleet has everything it needs now to make the industry cleaner, more commercially resilient and, dare I say it, fun!
Bunkerspot - Early Learning: Lessons from First Movers: Sail of the Century
Bunkerspot Magazine
In October, Smart Green Shipping (SGS) showcased FastRig – its lightweight, easy-to-retrofit intelligent wingsail – on the MV Pacific Grebe in sea trials at both Southampton and Greenock. This land mark came just over a decade after I first incorporated SGS, and you might ask why did it take so long?
Tech Market View - Totally Sust Podcast #6: Wind-as-a-service: Wing-sail solutions to decarbonise Global Shiping
Craig Wentworth - Tech Market View
In the sixth episode of TechMarketView's sustainability technology podcast "Totally Sust", Principal Analyst Craig Wentworth talks to Di Gilpin (Founder & CEO at Smart Green Shipping) and Henry Smith (Chartering Manager at MOL, the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines shipping business) about how Smart Green Shipping's FastRig wing-sail is being used to decarbonise commercial shipping, and the company's innovative Wind-as-a-Service business model that helps de-risk adoption of such innovative new tech.
ESG Investor - Set Sail For A Green Future
By Diane Gilpin for ESG Investor
The misconception that wind is unpredictable and therefore an impossible alternative to fossil fuels, has meant the maritime industry and investors continue to underestimate this primary renewable energy. But modern wind-assist technology in tandem with the latest in route optimisation software – taking into account historical and real-time weather forecasts and data – means we have the ability to predict when and how the wind will blow, bringing wind into the 21st century.
Reuters - Sea trial aims to give industry confidence in smart sail tech
Reuters
A cargo ship fitted with a high-tech, computer-controlled smart sail is undergoing sea trials off the United Kingdom coast to test how effective it is in helping power the ship. Olivia Zollino reports.
“By 2050, shipping needs to be net zero so we need to find ways of reducing the fuel and the emissions from shipping. And wind is a brilliant way of starting that process.”
Watch the video to learn more.
TradeWinds - ShipTech News: Will renting out the wind work? Ask Di
Craig Eason - TradeWinds
After 20 years, Di Gilpin saw her idea come to fruition when the 4,902-dwt Pacific Grebe (built 2010) left Barrow two weeks ago with its FastRig secured in its deck.
But the journey is far from over. The rig is only a temporary addition to the UK-flagged nuclear waste carrier. It will be removed once the trials are completed, with the data and learning from sea trials assessed.