The Japanese shipping group Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, known as K Line, has taken over the French towing kite developer Airseas. The aim is to expand the business with a new name and a new company.
In the past, K Line and Airseas had already worked together occasionally and installed towing kite systems on ships.[ds_preview] Now the Japanese are taking control of the French company, which is active on the market with its “Seawing” kite system and also counts the Louis Dreyfus shipping group among its customers.
As of yesterday, Airseas is now part of the company Oceanicwing, which was founded specifically for this purpose in January. The aim is to “strengthen the development and marketing of ‘Seawing’, an automated kite system for the use of wind power”, K Line announced.
K Line to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% with Seawing
Seawing is expected to reduce CO2 emissions from ships by around 20%. Seawing is also expected to achieve a higher reduction performance through synergy effects with fuel switching, for example, by using LNG instead of conventional heavy fuel oil.
According to the statement, Seawing can be installed on any type of ship and no energy generation or supply system is required. It is not yet known whether K Line intends to equip other ships with the system. The shipping company operates a fleet of over 430 vessels, including container ships – in this segment, the shipping company works together with NYK and MOL as “ONE” – bulkers, LNG and oil tankers, car carriers and short-sea freighters.
