The quests did not by-passed the ship owners, and some of them are already preparing the revival of the glorious past of the sailing-ships. The 21st century sailing-ships don’t use tall wooden masts, but gigantic kites controlled by computers. This kind of propulsion system is being used by MS Beluga SkySails, a 10 000-tonne ship that started its first trial trip to check the theories of Stephan Wrage, a German inventor.
In case of success, the warping kite will be available in 320 square meters versions this year and in 600 square meters versions in 2009. The long-term aim (up to 2015) is the instrumentation of 1500 ships with this innovative system of wind energy propulsion.
Even if the oil price will drop, the wind will remain cheaper, and beyond the price, the sailing propulsion revival stands for the greenhouse gas emissions. If regulators will get to reduce the ship emissions in a similar way as with the restrictions imposed to the vehicle producers, the pioneering work of Wrage’s kites will be the beginning of major changes for the sea transporter.
