LDA kicks off construction of wind-assisted RoRo ships for Airbus

French maritime firm Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) has celebrated the beginning of the construction of the first low-carbon roll-on /roll-off (RoRo) vessel to be chartered to European aerospace giant Airbus.

The steel cutting ceremony for the first of three low-carbon vessels equipped with wind-assisted propulsion and methanol dual-fuel engines was held on October 24 at CSSC Group’s Wuchang Shipyard in China.

Each of the 167-meter vessels will feature six rotor sails from Norsepower, dual-fuel methanol engines from Wärtsilä, a waste heat conversion system.

The RoRo ships are planned to commence operation from 2026 onwards, transporting aircraft subassemblies for Airbus.

Each new transatlantic vessel will have the capacity to transport around seventy 40-foot containers and six single-aisle aircraft subassembly sets, a substantial increase from current cargo ships.

To remind, Airbus contracted LDA to renew its fleet of chartered vessels with three low-emission RoRo vessels supported by wind-assisted propulsion in October 2023. Shortly after, LDA commissioned Chinese CSSC Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group to build these vessels.

The ships have been designed by Deltamarin with the aim of halving fuel burn and CO2 emissions in transatlantic operations by 2030 compared to a 2023 baseline.

Swedish propulsion provider Berg Propulsion will deliver a hybrid propulsion solution for the three wind-assisted RoRo ships.