Oceanbird is a concept for wind-powered cargo vessels under development by

Wallenius Marine Wallenius Marine is a ship design and ship management company in Sweden. Headquartered in Stockholm, the company has additional offices in Singapore and employs some 800 people. The company was spun off from Wallenius Lines in 2003 to focus on sh ...

. The concept aims to lower

emissions Emission may refer to: Chemical products * Emission of air pollutants, notably: **Flue gas, gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue ** Exhaust gas, flue gas generated by fuel combustion ** Emission of greenhouse gases, which absorb and emit rad ...

by up to 90 percent and the design was developed in collaboration with

KTH Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolog ...

and Swedish maritime technology company SSPA. Financial backing for the development was provided by the

Swedish Transport Agency The Swedish Transport Agency ( sv, Transportstyrelsen) is a Swedish government agency which is responsible for the regulation of rail, air, sea and road transport and its enforcement. It was formed on 1 January 2009, through a merger of several ...

. In 2021, Wallenius announced a partnership with Swedish heavy industry company Alfa Laval to further develop the concept's wingsail design. The concept features expandable

wingsail A wingsail, twin-skin sail or double skin sail is a variable-camber aerodynamic structure that is fitted to a marine vessel in place of conventional sails. Wingsails are analogous to airplane wings, except that they are designed to provide lif ...

s that can rotate 360 degrees and tilt down if needed. The masts will measure for a total height above the waterline of . The rigging will be made from steel and composite materials and resemble airplane wings. An auxiliary engine will be used to navigate harbors and provide emergency power. While the design is meant to be usable for different types of ships and even retrofitted to existing vessels, the first vessel from the Oceanbird concept is planned to be a long

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

ship with a capacity of up to 7,000 cars. Such ships are optimized for

transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film) ...

routes. The first vessel based on the concept is planned to set sail in 2026. In February 2021, shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen announced their intention to order a vessel of the Oceanbird concept, tentatively named Orville Wind.

Partnership with ABBA Voyage

In May 2022, Wallenius was confirmed as the official partner to the concert residency

ABBA Voyage ABBA Voyage is a virtual concert residency by the Swedish pop group ABBA. The concerts feature virtual avatars (dubbed 'ABBAtars'), depicting the group as they appeared in 1977. The concerts are held in a purpose-built venue at the Queen Eliza ...

in London.{{Cite web , title=ABBA Voyage forms sustainable partnership with wind-powered shipping company , url=https://www.musicweek.com/live/read/abba-voyage-forms-sustainable-partnership-with-wind-powered-shipping-company/085781 , access-date=2022-09-23 , website=www.musicweek.com , language=en In this partnership, Wallenius will act as the exclusive logistics provider for ABBA Voyage, in addition to providing support and consultation around sustainability. The partnership also allows for future Oceanbird vessels to be named after

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group ...

songs. Inside the ABBA Arena in London, the VIP lounge section is named The Oceanbird Departure Lounge, as an homage to the namesake wind-powered concept.

References

Proposed ships