Anemoi Marine Technologies is one company that has certainly had a role to play in bringing wind-assisted propulsion back to commercial shipping through the revival and modernisation of rotor sail technology.

Originally based on the 1920s-era innovations of Anton Flettner, rotor sails harness the Magnus effect to provide forward thrust from wind energy using tall, spinning cylindrical sails. Though early experiments such as the German vessel Barbara demonstrated the principle nearly a century ago, commercial viability was undermined at the time by low fuel prices. “The fuel price was a lot lower when Barbara, the first vessel with rotor sails, was actually out sailing,” reflects Claes Horndahl, commercial director at Anemoi Marine Technologies. “And of course, we’ve seen the fuel prices come up a lot since then. But I think we’re also quite sure, all of us in the industry, that the fuel prices, no matter what the fuel will be in the future, will just be more expensive.”