Anicet Mbida 6:52 a.m., December 23, 2021

Every day, Anicet Mbida makes us discover an innovation that could well change the way we consume.

This Thursday, he is interested in the possibility of reducing the pollution of large cargo ships in the seas by towing them using kite boats, equipped with a huge flying wing.

We knew about sailing boats.

This morning, you tell us about kite boats.

A surprising project to reduce pollution from large sea freighters: towing them with a huge flying wing.

A kite-surf sail like the ones we see more and more on the beaches (surfboards also pulled by a flying wing).

Except that this one will be giant to be able to pull a container ship of several hundred tons.

This will allow it to shut off its engines from time to time and use only the force of the wind in order to save up to 20% on fuel.

Remember that maritime transport is responsible for 4 to 5% of CO2 emissions.

That is to say as much, if not more, than road transport.

In addition, we are talking about heavy fuel oil, an extremely polluting fuel that emits a lot of toxic gases.

What does it mean ?

That we could have co-pilot kite-surfers on the freighters?

It would be a good idea… Except that to pull a container ship of 100,000 tonnes, you need a wing of 1,000 m2 which provides 100 tonnes of traction.

You imagine, it might pull on the arms a bit.

There, a computer will take care of the piloting completely: the take-off of the wing, the landing and the famous figure-of-eight movements to obtain the best traction.

It was the people of Toulouse from the startup AirSeas who developed this technology.

And it is the “City of Bordeaux”, a 154-meter freighter that will be the first to operate it.

He will be setting sail in a few days (early January), to transport aircraft parts between France and the United States.

The test is expected to last six months.

And if all goes well, the system will be extended to other regular lines.

Could we also use it for something other than freighters?

Yes, because it is a completely autonomous sail that can be installed on any motor boat.

We can therefore very well imagine it as a complementary traction system for fishing boats, ferries or cruise ships.

It would be the big comeback of sailing in maritime transport.

And an original way to reduce the pollution of all those old oil engines.