Maersk to fit a 35 m rotor sail on an 8,700 TEU Lima-class ship in 2027

A single fixed rotor sail, 35 m high and 5 m in diameter, will be installed in mid-2027 on one of A.P. Moller-Maersk's 8,700 TEU Lima-class container ships, in what the company and its supplier Anemoi Marine Technologies describe as the first rotor sail installation on a container vessel. For liner operators the announcement matters less for the fuel saving of one rotor than for the segment it enters: wind-assisted propulsion has so far been retrofitted mainly to bulk carriers and tankers, where deck space and air draught are easier to manage than under a stack of containers and a quay crane.

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07 september 2026   |   21:54   |   Source: Gazeta Morska   |   Prepared by: Kamil Kusier   |   Print

fot. Maersk

Scope of the agreement

Anemoi, a London-based company incorporated in 2015, will design, manufacture and deliver the rotor sail and support its integration with the vessel's existing onboard systems, including engineering and installation. The ship will remain in regular commercial service throughout the trial, with testing expected on North and South Atlantic voyages. Neither company has named the vessel, disclosed the contract value or identified the yard that will carry out the installation.

- We're delighted to be working with Maersk on this pioneering project, said Clare Urmston, chief executive of Anemoi Marine Technologies.

Ole Graa Jakobsen, head of fleet technology at Maersk, said wind-assisted propulsion had already been tested in other parts of the shipping sector and that Maersk saw the pilot as a chance to build practical experience and assess the technology's relevance for its own fleet and for container shipping more broadly.

A deliberately small pilot

Anemoi typically fits three to five rotor sails per vessel, so a single unit on an 8,700 TEU ship is a contained test rather than a deployment. According to the supplier's specifications, each rotor saves roughly one tonne of fuel and around three tonnes of CO₂ per day. Maersk positions the project within a fuel-agnostic approach to cutting emissions from its ocean business and has made no commitment to fleet-wide adoption; that decision is to follow the operating data.

Rotor sails rely on the Magnus effect. Wind passing across a spinning cylinder generates aerodynamic lift, which produces additional thrust and reduces the power demanded from the main engine. Savings depend on wind strength and direction and on the vessel's operating profile, which is why the technology performs best on routes with consistent favourable winds. The Atlantic trades are a reasonable proving ground on that measure.

Earlier experience within the group

The A.P. Moller group has been here before, though not in the liner fleet. An independent trial in 2019 of two Norsepower rotor sails on a Maersk Tankers LR2 produced verified fuel savings of 8.2 per cent over a year, equivalent to around 1,400 tonnes of CO₂. Maersk Tankers operates separately from the container business, so the Anemoi agreement is the first move of the technology into Maersk's liner operations. Anemoi itself has installed rotor sails across several segments, including bulk carriers, and earlier this year secured approval in principle from DNV, together with Hafnia and Guangzhou Shipyard International, for folding 5 m by 35 m rotors on MR tanker designs.

For terminal operators the practical question is how a permanent 35 m structure on deck fits with crane cycles and stowage planning at the service speed liner schedules demand. The Atlantic trial should provide the first answer.

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Maersk żagiel rotorowy Anemoi Marine Technologies napęd wiatrowy kontenerowiec dekarbonizacja żeglugi klasa Maersk Lima

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