Kreuzfahrt News - Schifffahrtsnachrichten

• bound4blue will install three eSAIL® systems in 2023 on a vessel owned and operated by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA).

• Louis Dreyfus Armateurs pays particular attention to protecting the environment. This concern translates into a dynamic innovation policy. LDA’s engineering, projects and innovation teams have established close relationships with bound4blue, a major European innovation player.

• The young Spanish company bound4blue is a breath of innovation in the global maritime sector.

The collaboration between bound4blue and LDA emerged more than three years ago, due to the constant search by the French shipowner to optimize its operations and its costs and, above all, reduce the carbon footprint of its fleet. Both companies worked together during 2020 on a preliminary project to assess the viability of the installation on one of the shipowner's vessels. In parallel, the financing to launch the project has been closed, with the support of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Acceleration Program, allowing to install bound4blue’s technology on one of LDA’s vessels during 2023.

José Miguel Bermúdez, CEO of bound4blue, highlights that this is "a great milestone to expand our technology, as it gives us the possibility of scaling up our systems for larger ships and doing it with a top-tier shipowner in France and in Europe, which is undoubtedly a big step forward for bound4blue”.

Regarding the support received from the EIC, Bermúdez states that "it is very important for our company, not only financially but also in terms of accelerating our development and launching far-reaching projects. This will undoubtedly take our technology a step forward, increasingly becoming a standard for sustainable maritime mobility”.

Kamil Beffa, CEO of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs: “We pay particular attention to the decarbonization of all our ships and are taking a proactive approach to study, develop and adopt solutions in this direction. Our ship project management, engineering and innovation teams have been working for more than 3 years in partnership with bound4blue to implement an innovative and environmentally virtuous solution to assist in the propulsion of our ships. With the eSAIL® system, the sail propulsion will take the form of boundary layer suction wing profiles and will take advantage of the apparent wind encountered by the vessel to generate additional thrust. This device should make it possible to generate substantial fuel savings. "

About bound4blue

bound4blue develops automated wind-assisted propulsion systems as a turnkey solution for all shipowners and shipping companies seeking to reduce fuel costs and polluting emissions. bound4blue's eSAIL® system is an efficient and validated solution for saving fuel and emissions, completely autonomous, with low cost, low maintenance and easy installation onboard. The company, founded in 2014 with a vocation clearly focused on the renewable energy sector in the maritime field, has its headquarters in Cantabria (Spain) and offices in Barcelona and Singapore. During 2021, the company installed its eSAIL® system on two ships and has signed additional agreements with other shipowners to install the system on their fleets starting in 2022.

For more information, visit: www.bound4blue.com

About Louis Dreyfus Armateurs

The Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group offers players in the maritime world innovative industrial solutions adapted to their needs and integrated services ranging from the design and management of ships to maritime operations in the fields of dry bulk transport, logistics and marine industrial solutions. Present worldwide with more than 2,600 employees and around 100 vessels, LDA is a French family-owned group.

For more information, visit: www.lda.fr