This Giant Kite Will Drag Cargo Ships Through the Ocean

This may sound a bit far fetched but Airseas, a French renewable energy startup plans to use gigantic kites to drag massive cargo ships across the ocean. The company plans to run a test next month that will look at the possibilities of harnessing wind power to lessen the shipping industry’s massive carbon footprint.

The giant parafoil kite will measure 5,380 square feet and will be attached to a 505-foot ship called the Ville de Bordeaux, which will evaluate the kite’s ability to drag the ship forward using nothing but wind power.

The aim is to deploy eco-friendly propulsion systems to 10-percent of the world’s cargo fleet by 2030. With 80-percent of the world’s goods transported by sea on around 50,000 ships, the carbon footprint savings from deploying this technology will be enormous.

This does not mean that ships using the kite will not have engines but will be able to increase fuel economy and reduce carbon footprint by using the engines only while entering or leaving port or getting up to speed to deploy the kite which will propel the vessel on the longest parts of its journey across the oceans.

While the concept may appear cumbersome for a cargo vessel, the kite is not actually attached to the deck of the ship like a typical sail but rather will be tethered to the vessel and sail hundreds of feet in the air in front of the vessel harnessing the power of the wind and providing forward motion.