A Techno-Economic Analysis of a Cargo Ship Using Flettner Rotors

In the last twenty years, the global shipping transport demand has strongly increased (around 4% per year since the 1990s), together with the request for new green propulsion technologies to break down carbon emissions and face the costs deriving from the usage of conventional diesel fuels. Flettner rotors (hereafter: FRs) have been identified by several researchers as a promising solution to exploit wind energy on commercial ships, reducing fuel consumption. The present work presents a six-degree-of-freedom (6DOF) ship performance model set up to evaluate the best way of using a pair of Flettner rotors. The study analyses the performance of this propulsion system in consideration of weather and sea conditions, evaluating the related reduction in fuel consumption. A discussion about the economic and environmental advantages of the usage of FRs is provided, considering the costs linked to their installation and the new emission restrictions. Relevant results have been obtained for different routes, speed ranges and rotor dimensions while investigating the best Flettner rotor arrangement to minimise both the emissions and the installation cost payback period.