A giant ore ship working for Vale, which uses rotating sails to generate energy, docked this Tuesday at the port of Shark in ES. In total, the vessel will reduce up to 3,4 tons of carbon dioxide per year
The world's first large ore ship, which generates energy with a system consisting of five rotating sails (rotor sails), at Vale's service, docked at the Port of Tubarão, in Vitória, this Tuesday (27) . The vessel was named Sea Zhoushan.
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Giant ship from Vale has the capacity to transport 325 tons
Vale's Sea Zhoushan docked around 23:30 pm yesterday and five tugboats were needed: Camorim Topázio, Brucutu, Itabira, Timbopeba and Hélio Ferraz I. Vale's ore ship left China a few weeks ago and is a Guaibamax in the VLOC category with a transport capacity of 325 thousand tons of iron and pellets.
In total, as mentioned before, there are five rotating sails that generate energy, are installed along the ship and work as cylindrical rotors. The structures, which generate energy, are four meters in diameter and 24 meters high and during operations, they rotate at different speeds, varying according to environmental and operational conditions to create a pressure difference and propel the ore ship.
According to Vale, the rotating sails will allow for an 8% gain in terms of efficiency and will also reduce the emission of up to 3,4 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
Vale plans to contract a fleet composed of 40% of vessels with rotating sails
first ore ship to sail on power generated from rotating sails. Credit: Anderson Bibico/Disclosure 
first ore ship to sail on power generated from rotating sails. Credit: Anderson Bibico/Disclosure 
first ore ship to sail on power generated from rotating sails. Credit: Anderson Bibico/Disclosure
This will be the first operation of the Vale ship, which will return to China by the end of this week full of ore. The vessel takes around two days to be loaded. For now it is a pilot project, but if the technology proves to be efficient, the mining company Vale plans to form a fleet composed of at least 40% of this type of sail, impacting a reduction of almost 1,5% of emissions per year from vessels of Vale's iron ore.
It is worth noting that this type of system has existed since the XNUMXth century, but only in recent years has it been used on large ships, such as oil, passenger and cargo ships.
Chief Executive of Vale speaks about the success of ore transport
According to Guilherme Brega, executive manager of Navigation at Vale, the operation is part of the Ecoshipping program, which is aimed at meeting the company's goals in reducing its carbon emissions.
Last year, the company announced an investment of around R$ 6 billion to reduce up to 33% of its carbon emissions, called Scopes 1 and 2, by 2030. The company also announced that it intends to reduce by 15% scope 3 emissions by 2035, related to the value chain.
The executive claims that this initiative is bringing the company several positive news. The ship's arrival is an important milestone for Vale and it was interesting to first bring it to the Port of Tubarão in ES, as it is an innovative port designed to receive large ships. According to Guilherme, the rotating sails fold and almost lie down on the deck, reducing the use of fuel and generating completely natural “energy”.
