Suction sails: Cousteau's dream that revolutionized maritime transport

The nautical company bound4blue is a company focused on wind energy applied to the maritime sector. Specifically, it produces automated wind-assisted propulsion systems, known as eSAILs. This system consists of elliptical suction sails with a fan inside, resembling an airplane wing placed vertically on board a boat. These sails generate six to seven times more power than conventional ones and reduce engine usage and free up propulsion power, offsetting the forward thrust of the vessel with the system. All of this saves fuel and reduces polluting gas emissions.

"The time for wind propulsion is now," explains Dana Camps, head of marketing at bound4blue. Maritime transport is the most polluting sector in the world, accounting for 3% of global emissions: "And if it continues to grow, it will be 10% by 2050," the executive points out. Different organizations, such as the International Maritime Organization, are implementing regulations to reduce this impact due to climate change with the goal of reaching zero emissions by 2050. For this reason, the company offers a system for large ships that allows them to comply with current and future regulations, and it is expected that by 2027 their CO 2 0 ...

The company highlights the autonomous setting of its sails, low maintenance, and the return on investment for companies within five years. They have three sail models: the smallest reaches 12 meters in height, the next at 18, and the largest at 36. The first vessel they equipped was a Galician fishing vessel with 12-meter sails in 2021, the second in 2022 with a Fura dels Baus theatrical vessel, and one in the 20 to 20 Armateurs (with Airbus as the non-leader). This year, suction sails have also been installed on companies such as Odfjell and Eastern Pacific Shipping, and bound4blue already has signed commercial agreements with Maersk Tankers, Marflet, Louis Dreyfus Company, and other international corporations, in contracts valued at nearly €18 million. The system is suitable for bulk carriers, chemical tankers, cargo ships, gas carriers, general cargo ships, ferries, and cruise ships.

bound4blue was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Cantabria with offices in Barcelona and Singapore. Founded by three aeronautical engineers, José Miguel Bermúdez, Cristina Aleixendri, and David Ferrer, the organization was selected by the European Space Agency and Barcelona Activa incubation project in the initial phase. Although the company currently has 60 employees with profiles including engineers, technicians, data analysts, and business professionals, it is expected to have nearly 100 employees by the end of the year. Furthermore, the company has received awards such as the Seatrade Maritime Awards and the Motorship Awards, which would not have been possible without the various capital injections it received, such as the €22.4 million to boost its project during a financing round in 2023.

The company has future plans to enter the market for new-build boats, that is, vessels already designed from the ground up with the addition of these sails so that the optimal areas for installing the systems can be chosen, ensuring maximum profitability. The marketing director assures that the nautical market is also moving in this direction, stating that "in the next ten years, two-thirds of the global fleet will need to be renewed." Already in the product marketing phase, the company has a supplier's factory in Aranda de Duero (Burgos, near Madrid) and is considering adding a production plant in China to scale up its operations in the Asian market.

The system is inspired by the 1980s research on this technology led by Jacques Cousteau and his team, which included Lucien Malavard and Bertrand Charrier, currently an advisor to bound4blue. At that time, there was already a desire to find a way to make the maritime industry less polluting, but the incentives to drive change that exist today didn't exist.