World’s 1st Retrofit on an In-service Vessel

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines,  announced that MOL and Electric Power Development have agreed to install the Wind Challenger hard sail wind power propulsion system, which converts wind energy to propulsive force, on the coal carrier Kurotakisan Maru Ⅲ , which transports steaming coal to J-Power’s power stations. The installation is scheduled for the second half of 2025.

This marks the first installation of the Wind Challenger on a vessel currently in service by retrofitting. The introduction of the Wind Challenger is expected to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by about 5% on a Japan-Australia voyage and about 8% on a Japan-North America West Coast voyage, compared to a conventional vessel of the same type, thus contributing to reduced GHG emissions during fuel transportation.

MOL has set the target of achieving net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 in the “MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.2.” One of the main actions to achieve this target is the “introduction of further energy-saving technologies,” and the group plans to launch 25 vessels equipped with the Wind Challenger by 2030, increasing to 80 by 2035.

MOL will continue to pursue the use of wind-assisted energy-saving technologies such as the Wind Challenger to reduce GHG emissions and contribute to the realization of a low-carbon society.