Anyone looking out on the Port of Vancouver in the last week might have noticed an unusual ship docked at North Vancouver’s Neptune Terminals, loading up on steelmaking coal.
The Chinook Oldendorff, the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier, bears three tall cylinders jutting straight out of its deck. Though they might call to mind smokestacks like one would see on an old-timey steam ship, they are in fact quite the opposite.
In 2024, the ship was retrofitted by Oldendorff Vancouver and Elk Valley Resources with rotor sails, an emerging technology with the potential to take a bite out of the global shipping industry’s greenhouse gas emissions.
What are rotor sails and how do they work?
It might not be intuitive to look at a cylinder and see how it operates like a sail, but the scientific principles that rotor sails work on have been understood and experimented with for more than 100 years.
Much like a wing produces lift for an airplane by creating lower pressure on top and higher pressure below, the rotor sails spinning against the wind create a low pressure in front while simultaneously creating high pressure behind. This free boost in propulsion is known as the Magnus Effect.
If a ship captain were to chart a course purely to optimize that wind boost, rotor sails could reduce fuel consumption and emissions by as much as 30 per cent, said Paul Blomerus, executive director of Clear Seas, a non-profit the does research in the marine industry. Modern shipping requirements being what they are, that number is probably between five and 10 per cent, Blomerus added.
“But still, it’s kind of like a free fuel saving. Why not?” he said.
When Oldendorff announced the project in 2024, the company estimated a 10-15 per cent reduction in fuel use on trans-Pacific routes, thanks to the extra thrust. At the time, they renamed the vessel the Chinook in reference to the southwesterly winds that come off the Pacific and cross the Rocky Mountains.
Will they help fight climate change?
Globally, shipping accounts for around three per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.
“Which puts it the size of a large country,” Blomerus said. “So, a significant contributor and one that obviously all countries rely on for their international trade.”
Blomerus said the shipping industry is taking action with commitments to get to zero or near-zero emissions by 2050, and in April, the International Maritime Organization agreed to put a carbon pricing mechanism on the shipping industry’s emissions.
“In the world where all the news seems to be going in the other direction, this is pretty monumental,” Blomerous said. “The global shipping industry is committed and now they’ve actually put a mechanism in place that rewards ships that exceed the target and penalizes ships that do not reduce their carbon emissions.”
The biggest potential for emissions reduction will come from switching to more environmentally friendly energy sources – biofuels or fuels that can be derived from clean electricity like ammonia
“But it takes a lot of work and a lot of capital and a lot of energy, so I think in the meantime, people are focusing on how can you be more efficient, and that’s where the wind propulsion comes in,” he said.
According to the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, there are currently only 55 ships employing wind assistance worldwide. The first one to call at the Port of Vancouver was the AFROS in 2020, followed by the Shofu Maru in 2023. Chinook Oldendoff’s most recent arrival was its fifth, though it is expected to be here regularly under the North Pacific Green Corridor Initiative.
“We applaud Oldendorff Carriers and Elk Valley Resources for their leadership to reduce emissions from the shipping industry,” said Jennifer Natland, vice-president, properties and environment for the port. “Their innovative efforts are in line with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s ongoing commitment to environmental protection, and we are pleased to welcome the Chinook Oldendorff at the Port of Vancouver.”
Blomerus said people should view the rotor sails as cause for optimism and a harbinger of more innovations coming.
“It’s an indication that there is a business case for decarbonization. That company would not have invested in that additional cost and expense if it were not for the fact that they are committed to decarbonizing. We’re going to see more of that,” he said. “This is a big company that serves … the mining industry. This is not greenwashing. This is a company that’s just getting it done because it makes business sense.”
The ship was scheduled to set sail (quite literally) at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday June 5, but according to Neptune, it could be back in as little as six weeks.
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