MECHANICAL SAIL global player Norsepower has announced that the installation of one of its signature rotor sails onboard a Japanese bulk carrier.

Bulk carrier Yodohime (85022 dwt), operated by Japanese shipping line IINO Kaiun Kaisha, saw the installation work carried out at a dockyard in December 2024, with the decision made by both IINO Kaiun Kaisha and Electric Power Development Co. to integrate the technology.

Norsepower confirmed the vessel’s first voyage after the installation was successfully completed this month.

“We are excited to unveil the successful installation of a Norsepower Rotor Sail on the bulk carrier Yodohime,” Norsepower said in a post on LinkedIn.

“We are proud to work with industry leaders to deliver tangible environmental and economic benefits, to reach the shared ambition of driving innovation and enabling the shipping industry to achieve net zero by 2050.”

The Finnish mechanical sail producer revealed the installation is its second project with IINO Kaiun Kaisha, and first with charterer Electric Power Development Co, hailing it as “another strategic partnership which will significantly reduce fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions in global shipping”.

This is the second vessel for IINO Kaiun Kaisha to be equipped with Norsepower sails, following the installation onboard Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC) Oceanus Aurora in November last year.

This is the first time that Electric Power Development Co., headquartered in Tokyo, has installed a wind propulsion auxiliary system on a bulk carrier.

The 24m x 4m rotor sail is a wind propulsion system which was installed on the forecastle deck of the vessel, and utilises cutting-edge technology to automatically control the rotation, direction, and speed of the rotor sail using real-time meteorological information, such as wind direction and wind speed, detected by sensors.

The sails are expected to reduce fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions on vessel’s voyages by approximately 6-10%.

IINO Kaiun Kaisha is a Tokyo-based company founded in 1899 that runs oceangoing shipping as well as domestic and short-sea shipping, transporting energy resources and related products such as crude oil, LNG, LPG, petrochemicals and dry cargoes as a shipowner and operator.