Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (J-Power) have completed the installation of the Wind Challenger hard-sail wind propulsion system on Kurotakisan Maru III, marking what MOL described as the world’s first retrofit installation of the technology on a vessel currently in service.

The installation makes Kurotakisan Maru III the third Wind Challenger-equipped vessel in MOL’s fleet, following the coal carrier Shofu Maru and the 64,000-dwt Ultramax bulk carrier Green Winds.

The vessel berthed at the Tachibanawan Thermal Power Station in Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture, on 13 April and at the Ishikawa Coal-Fired Power Station in Uruma City, Okinawa Prefecture, on 17 April.

Kurotakisan Maru III is scheduled to operate under a long-term contract transporting thermal coal from overseas to multiple regions where J-Power operates power plants and related facilities.

The Wind Challenger system, developed by MOL and Oshima Shipbuilding, converts wind energy into propulsive force using telescoping hard sails.

MOL said the group has set a target of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 under its “MOL Group Environmental Vision: BLUE ACTION 2035 Phase 2”. As part of that plan, it aims to launch 25 vessels equipped with Wind Challenger by 2030, rising to 80 by 2035.

Kurotakisan Maru III was delivered on 2 December 2021 as the first vessel in MOL’s next-generation coal carrier EeneX series. MOL announced plans on 24 May 2024 to retrofit the vessel with the Wind Challenger system.