Rolls-Royce revives age of sail to beat fuel-cost surge

Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc is working on a modern-day clipper ship as it bets on emissions curbs to jack up bunker-fuel costs and herald a new age of sail.

Cargo vessels are set for a design change embracing sleeker hulls and hybrid propulsion systems, according to London-based Rolls, which is helping to develop a ship featuring a 180-foot sail augmented by bio-methane engines and carrying 4,500 tons.

“We’re at the dawn of a transition,” said Oskar Levander, vice president for innovation at Rolls’s marine unit, who predicts a switch to alternative fuels such as dimethyl ether and liquid natural gas, as well as “high-tech wind.”

Spurring the push are International Maritime Organization sulfur caps that are already compelling ship owners to switch to cleaner but pricier grades. Trimmer designs and innovative power systems could more than offset the extra cost with a potential 55 percent efficiency gain, according to Diane Gilpin, project leader at Rolls partner B9 Shipping of Larne, Northern Ireland.

Plans for hybrid models hark back to an era of wind power that ended less than 150 years ago, when steamships finally supplanted the sailing vessels that had dominated cargo traffic for thousands of years dating back to ancient Egypt and beyond.

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