LDA-owned Ro-Ro achieves daily fuel savings of 1.7 mt with bound4blue eSAIL

bound4blue on Wednesday (25 June) has underlined the business case for adopting eSAIL® wind propulsion technology, with the release of BVS assessed operational fuel savings on the Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) owned Ro-Ro Ville de Bordeaux.

The vessel, chartered by Airbus, had three 22-meter bound4blue suction sail units installed in 2024. BVS assessed the savings over a year, showing an average daily fuel saving of 1.7 metric tonnes (mt), with peak savings of as much as 5.4 mt per day.

These savings are consistent with bound4blue’s initial projections and with the results obtained by LDA using its own methodology, which was grounded in real-time measurements – including fuel consumption data – and incorporated actual weather conditions to ensure accuracy.

The savings reported on the vessel, which transports Airbus subassemblies from Europe to the United States, were achieved without relying on weather routing and did not account for the significant regulatory advantages of adopting wind propulsion.

David Ferrer, CTO of bound4blue, said the newly assessed results demonstrated the tangible impact of eSAILs® for an industry in transition.

“We’re thrilled to see this hard-working vessel making significant daily savings, with really exciting peak numbers that demonstrate huge potential,” Ferrer said. 

“These results showcase how existing vessels – and not just newbuilds that have been designed for energy efficiency and wind propulsion – can harness this clean, renewable and accessible power source for transformative benefits.”

“The Ville de Bordeaux is a specialised, Ro-Ro vessel, providing continuous logistics solutions for the aeronautic industry, but the eSAILs® ability to generate lift from shallow angles means the system produced compelling results day-in day-out. This has been a great project, and we’d like to thank all our partners for their support and collaboration.”

Photo credit: bound4blue
Published: 27 June, 2025