How About Putting a Sail on that Freighter?

It’s a brilliant cold Saturday, and I learned quite a bit as I read last night’s WSJ while looking out at the chickadees and finches flitting over the feeder. One was about a German company called SkySails that installs parachute-like sails above commercial freighters and says that in the right wind conditions they can save up to 50% of fuel consumption.

Giant tankers and freighters gobble tons of bunker fuel, the sludge on the bottom of the refiner’s barrel. In recent years the carbon dioxide from ships has soared, putting this industry in the crosshairs of climate change advocates. Maersk, the world’s largest shipper, said their response to the problem would be simple…they’ll sail slower and do better scheduling to avoid idling. Japan’s NYK Line brags that they’ll be introducing a zero-emissions ship by 2050, relying on fuel cells, solar and wind energy.

In the industry, the reaction higher taxes on the bunker fuel they all use is, of course, mixed. Perhaps the most politically palatable option would be to allow the shippers to use the tax proceeds to buy carbon offsets…in other words, plant lots of trees and support solar farms on land to justify the pollution they’re creating at sea.