Tag: Sea Transport

DHL are the first company to use ocean-going cargo vessel with wind propulsion system Shipping becoming safer, more profitable and more eco-friendly

The MS Beluga SkySails is being used for a commercial transport for the first time. It will carry the first parts of a complete particle board factory from Bremen to Venezuela on behalf of DHL Global Forwarding.

The multipurpose vessel will set sail early next week. What makes it so special is a new wind propulsion system with a huge towing kite that provides additional thrust for the ship at sea – a sustainable solution for reducing fuel consumption, costs and emissions.

DHL will transport the particle board factory to South America for its client, Dieffenbacher, in a total of eight partial shipments. It is to be used for a government-sponsored housing project.

For several years now, DHL has made it its business to provide customers not only with first-class service but sustainable transport solutions as well. In its endeavours to develop efficient and eco-friendly logistic services with the latest technologies, the group was the first logistics company to cluster its innovation activities, giving top priority to climate protection.

Today its business customers in Europe can already send their shipments with the climate-neutral GoGreen Service. The company is also increasingly using alternative propulsion systems such as biogas and electric motors.

On 15th December 2007, the MS Beluga SkySails was christened in Hamburg by Eva Luise Köhler, wife of Germany’s Federal President. The so-called “multipurpose heavy-lift carrier” belongs to the fleet of Bremen shipping company Beluga Shipping GmbH.

Depending on the wind conditions, fuel costs can be lowered by between ten and 35 percent. A small, 87-metre-long freighter would thus save an average of 280,000 euros in fuel costs per year.