Presidential visit for world’s first wind-powered hybrid industrial ship, funded under EMFF

French President Emmanuel Macron has visited Canopée, the world’s first wind-powered hybrid industrial cargo ship. French company Ayro developed Oceanwings® 363, wingsails that reduce the fuel consumption of ships by 30%.

Thanks to the support of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) via the WINNEW project, Ayro sped up the development and the industrialisation of the wingsails, further enhancing the technology throughout validation processes.

In summer 2023, Oceanwings have been installed and tested on Canopée, a ship that is transporting Ariane rocket parts between Europe and the Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

On 26 March 2024, President Macron visited Europe's Spaceport, where he was invited on board to look around Canopée. The ship is currently anchored in the Kourou port of Paricabo.

The combination of diesel propulsion and wind assistance on this vessel represents a big leap forward in the decarbonisation of industrial shipping.

Last November, by the end of the EU-funded project, Canopée won the Ship of the Year Award for 2023.

The project is in line with the EU’s objective to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the maritime sector. At the EU level, the sector accounts for approximately 3 to 4% of the EU's total CO₂ emissions. In 2019, this was over 144 million tonnes of CO₂.

Policy background

In February 2023, the European Commission presented a communication on the energy transition of the EU fisheries and aquaculture sector. The measures under the initiative aim to support the transition of the sector to cleaner energy sources, thus helping to reduce the sector’s current dependence on fossil fuels, which is not only environmentally unsustainable, but also makes it vulnerable to energy price increases.