The Success of Canopée: A Breakthrough in Wind-Assisted Propulsion

Two years after its launch, Canopée— believed to be the first industrial cargo vessel equipped with four automated OceanWings—has demonstrated the potential of wind-assisted propulsion.

Operational data confirms average fuel savings of 1.3 tonnes per day per wingsail, equivalent to around 300kW of equivalent engine power.

Designed to transport components of the Ariane 6 rocket between Europe and French Guiana and built by Dutch shipbuilding firm Neptune Marine, Canopée operates under demanding transatlantic and European schedules and conditions. The ship is owned by the shipping company Alizés, a joint venture firm set up between Zéphyr & Borée and JIFMAR Offshore Services.

The integration of the wind propulsion solution has not only improved fuel efficiency but also demonstrated the reliability and uptime performance of wind-assisted propulsion for merchant shipping, as per French designer and manufacturer of wind propulsion systems OceanWings.

On average, each wingsail already saves 1.3 tonnes of fuel per day under Canopée’s normal operating conditions, corresponding to approximately 300 kW of equivalent engine power per wingsail, or a total of 5.2 tonnes of fuel (20.8 tonnes CO2 equivalent) per day and 1200kW of equivalent engine power for the four OceanWings.

The performance of the OceanWings on Canopée is projected to further increase thanks to the constant improvement of software & AI platform. On one of the most recent transatlantic voyages, Canopée delivered average savings of 2.2 tonnes per day per wingsail, corresponding to 510 kW of equivalent engine power saved per wingsail, or 2MW of equivalent engine power for the entire vessel.

Canopée was also clocked at 13.7 knots under sail power alone which shows the clear potential of the OceanWings technology for the propulsion of commercial vessels.

On average over the past two years on Canopée, OceanWings also showed 99.6% of operational availability.

In related news, Europe’s first MetOp Second Generation, MetOp-SG-A1, satellite is currently at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. This new polar-orbiting weather satellite also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-5 instrument to deliver daily global data on air pollutants and other atmospheric trace gases.

The rocket and payloads were transported by Canopée and are to be unloaded and transported to Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou for unboxing and final checks before launch.