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Winged cargo ship saves three tonnes of fuel per day on first voyage
An age of greener, more efficient shipping may be in the offing as a specially modified 43,000-tonne bulk freighter completes a six-month sea trial using a combination of diesel engines and a set of high-tech automatic sails to catch the wind.
Mixing sail and power isn't a new thing. In fact, it goes back to the very first steamships when shipmasters weren't particularly keen to rely on a cranky, half-experimental portable steam engine to cross the ocean. Even today, all but the smallest sailing boats have some sort of auxiliary power for maneuveringin close quarters or making passages when the wind isn't blowing.
As engines improved, ships became the behemoths we know today, and shipping schedules became as tight as my budget, sails gradually disappeared from commercial ocean traffic, but the wind propulsion never disappeared entirely. Sails may never come back as the primary means of propelling a ship, but the promise of a way of supplementing power with wind as a way to cut fuel consumption and reduce toxic emissions has always been attractive, so long as it doesn't rely on acres of canvas and huge crews of sailors hauling on sheers.
Operated by MC Shipping Kamsarmax and chartered by Cargill, Singapore-flagged Pyxis Ocean was retrofitted with two WindWings developed by BAR Technologies and carried out an extended six-month sea trial beginning in August 2023. During this time, it sailed across the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, North and South Atlantic, and passed Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope.
The WindWings aren't the sort of canvas sails that you see on old pictures of the Cutty Sark. Instead, they are solid, foldable sails made of steel and glass fibers and stand 37.5-m (123-ft) tall. Their purpose isn't to replace the conventional diesel engines, but to provide supplemental propulsion as the ship sails into areas with favorable winds and currents.
They also don't require much of any minding. A simple red/green traffic system on the bridge tells the crew when to activate or inactivate the WindWings. Once online, they respond automatically to changes in the wind and trim themselves for optimum speed. This allows the diesels to be throttled back without the ship slowing down.
According to Cargill, this allowed the Pyxis Ocean to save the equivalent of three tonnes of fuel per day with a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 11.2 tonnes (the equivalent of removing 480 cars from the road for the extent of the voyage) and a general savings of 14%.
The next step is to make sure that such large-scale sail-equipped ships are compatiblewith 250 global shipping ports
"The results of the Pyxis Ocean’s first voyage with WindWings installed clearly demonstrate that wind assisted propulsion can secure significant fuel savings and emissions reduction," said John Cooper, BAR Technologies CEO. "For example, in near optimum sailing conditions, during an open sea voyage, the Pyxis Ocean achieved fuel savings of 11 tonnes per day. And while the Pyxis Ocean has two WindWings, we anticipate the majority of Kamsarmax vessels will carry three wings, further increasing the fuel savings and emissions reductions by a factor of 1.5. With Cargill are now able to validate our performance predictions and modeling in real-world conditions, it’s an exciting time as we begin to roll out WindWings production globally."
注释：
offing: n
表示"不远的将来; (较远而可见的)海面"，means "the near or foreseeable future;"，如：The smell of cooking tells them there is a meal in the offing. 他们闻到做菜的味儿，知道眼看要吃饭了。
freighter: n
表示" 货船；运输工具"，means "a cargo ship"，如：The crew of that foreign freighter was fully hired on. 那艘外国货船的船员已全部雇齐。
cranky: adj
表示"怪癖的；不稳的"，means "easily irritated or annoyed;(used of boats) inclined to heel over easily under sail"，如：His mother has been cranky recently. 他的母亲最近常暴躁不安。
maneuver: v
表示"使演习；调遣"，means "direct the course; determine the direction of travelling"，如：The mouse had a quick wit and was able to maneuver his way out of danger. 老鼠有急智可以灵巧地脱离危险。
behemoth: n
表示" 巨兽；庞然大物"，means "someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful"，如：The city is a sprawling behemoth with no heart. 这座城市像是一个没有心脏的不规则延伸的庞然大物。
sheer: v; n
表示"转向"，means " turn (as if) to avoid hitting sth; change direction quickly"，如：When he saw me coming he sheered off in the opposite direction. 他一看到我过来，掉头就走了。
retrofit: v; n
表示"翻新；改进"，means "fit in or on an existing structure, such as an older house"，如：Retrofit noise barriers on Tuen Mun Road. 于屯门公路安装隔音屏障。They must have changed it since the retrofit. 可能上次改建以后的事。
throttle: n; v
表示" 节流阀,油门; 扼喉咙, 使窒息"，means "a valve that regulates the supply of fuel to the engine; place limits on (extent or access)"，如：He drove his motorbike up and down the drive at full throttle. 他骑着摩托车，开足油门，在车道上来回奔驰。He wanted to seize the baby and throttle it. 他真想把孩子抓过来卡死。
compatible: adj
表示" 兼容的"，means "able to exist together, live together, or be used together"，如：We should remain the compatible family relationships. 我们应该维持和谐的家庭关系。
中文简要说明：
由嘉吉航运公司（Cargill Ocean Transportation）租赁的「罗盘海洋号」(Pyxis Ocean)，有着2支独特的「风翼」(WindWings)，它刚刚完成了为期六个月的海上试航，证实风翼的节能省油效果，或许未来会有更多的货轮安装风翼，新的帆船航运时代将会到来。
新阿特拉斯(New Altas)报导，风帆和引擎动力的混合船，在历史上曾经出现过，事实上，世界上最早期的蒸汽轮船都保留了风帆，因为当时的蒸气机还不成熟，经常故障，还可能过热而爆炸。随着引擎技术的改进，风帆逐渐从商业海上交通中消失，但地球的风力却从未完全消失。因此到了今天，除了最小的帆船之外，所有的帆船游船，也都具有辅助动力，或是许引擎驱动或是电力驱动，用于短距离操纵，或在无风时航行。
在节能减碳的环保观念日渐落实的现在，如何减少化石燃料的使用，成为船舶专家再次研究风力的原因。由英国BAR科技公司(BAR Technologies) 开发、亚拉海陆科技(Yara Marine Technologies)生产的2张风翼，安装到4.3万吨的「罗盘海洋号」货输上，并于2023 年8 月开始进行了为期六个月的海上试航，在此期间，它横渡了印度洋、太平洋、南北大西洋，中途还经过南美洲最南端的合恩角，以及非洲最南端的好望角，这2处是著名的海上险路，证明风翼的耐用程度。
风翼是坚固的、可折迭的帆，由钢和玻璃纤维制成，高度37.5 公尺，可随风向转变角度。它们的目的不是取代发动机，而是当船舶驶入风力和水流都有利的区域时，可以利用风力，提供额外的推进。
根据嘉吉航运公司的说法，这一次的试航相当成功，罗盘海洋号表现出明显的油料经济性，平均每天可以节省大约3 吨的燃料，这相当于减少二氧化碳排放量11.2 吨 。
嘉吉航运执行长库珀( John Cooper)说：「风翼的表现比预期的更好一些，在海象良好的海域，罗盘海洋号的燃料节省达到11吨。虽然它有两个风翼，但我们认为同类的卡姆萨级货轮(Kamsarmax)可以安装到三个翼，效果将会更好。」
「这是一个激动人心的时刻，我们将开始在全球范围内推广风翼。因此，我们希望全球250个航运港口，也能确保此类大型风帆船舶的停泊与支持服务。」
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