In the ocean-going commercial ship market sector, the nature of the business is:-
Marketing and selling wingsails designed in close association with John Walker, contracting their building and installation, and maintaining tight control of quality. Shadotec wingsails can deliver solutions to the maritime propulsion problems brought about by the inexorable rise in the cost of oil and the rapidly increasing concern about mankind's contribution to global climate change. Because of the still continuing worldwide financial crisis crude oil prices did briefly fall, but have quite quickly started to rise again. Currently priced at around $90 a barrel, it is thought by many industry experts that crude oil will reach at least $120-$150 a barrel during the course of 2011, continuing to cost more and more as world stocks are depleted at a greater rate than new sources are found.
Perhaps ironically, achieving lower pollution levels through conventional means has in the past driven up the cost of owning and operating ships, because pre-wingsail it involved either converting the vessel to run on a more refined and expensive marine diesel fuel, or “scrubbing” exhaust gases of their pollutants before release into the atmosphere.
Shadotec’s elegant solutions allow vessel owners to address both problems by using significantly less of whatever fuel they burn, by augmenting engine power with free, clean auxiliary wind power. A 6,500 dwt dry cargo ship, mv Ashington, had a single Walker wingsail installed, which proved able to save up to 20% of her fuel consumption. Certified excerpts from Captain Francis' log can be viewed here.
Captain Francis is the Company's Marine Consultant.
As fuel oil shortages and increasing costs become progressively more onerous, the directors of Shadotec plc are confident that practical and economically attractive solutions will be found, even for the most difficult ship types.
For commercial ships, Shadotec plc technology can:-
Exploiting other market sectors such as that for small craft involves designing and installing primary or auxiliary wind propulsion for work boats, fishing boats, leisure yachts and cruisers large and small. The Walker technology available to Shadotec plc in this field is well proven, with a number of Walker designed wingsail vessels in service, one having circumnavigated the globe and another having successfully survived passing through a Category 3 North Atlantic hurricane en route to the US. ( see story here)
The commercial potential of the small craft and leisure market worldwide is considered by the directors of Shadotec to be at least as great as that of the commercial ship market. What is more, the CO2 and pollution contribution of powerboats to the total carbon footprint of the world’s marine industries is thought to be at least as large as that of commercial ships. Reduction of fuel consumption is again likely to be a driver of sales, but the environmental benefits and ease of use of a Shadotec wingsail propelled fishing boat or yacht are also likely to be taken into account by owners. It has been confidently predicted that a silent non-vibrating fishing boat may well catch more fish than one propelled by a diesel engine. The same qualities of radar invisibility, absence of any heat signature, vibration or noise may also prove useful in, for example, illegal immigration prevention patrols and anti- terrorism operations.
The potential of a fast, silent wingsail yacht, controlled, like a typical powerboat, by a simple thrust lever, has been shown, through earlier marketing initiatives at Boat Shows in the UK and the US, to have widespread appeal for both sexes. Automatic tacking and gybing, computer controlled governing to protect against overpowering and capsize, and “air brakes” are all attractive qualities, and will be unique to Shadotec products.
In summary Shadotecl will concentrate on:
Potential contractors may already be members of the ship building industry, or they may be new companies or divisions of companies. They must be prepared to learn new skills and to liaise closely with the Company.
A number of potential contractors have been identified by Shadotec and to date two major ship owning companies have expressed significant interest in buying Shadotec products:
WMC is the design and newbuilding department of the Wilhelm Wilhelmsen Group (“WW”) based in Norway. WMC consists of a group of skilled naval architects, engineers and senior mariners who serve external clients as well as WW companies. Together with its partners, such as Wallenius in Sweden, WW controls around 150 car and roll-on, roll-off carriers operating in a global network of trades.
PGS, also based in Norway, is a technology focused oilfield service company principally involved in providing geophysical services worldwide. The Company provides a broad range of geophysical and reservoir services, including seismic data acquisition, processing and interpretation plus field evaluation and operates a fleet of 10 very high technology survey vessels.
Shadotec is currently talking to two Indian contacts, one in Chennai (Madras) and one in Delhi. Both of these resources are well placed in the Indian marketplace and while one of them has been known to John Walker personally for something like 20 years, the other is a great friend and trusted associate of Captain Roger Francis in Delhi.
The directors believe that the fact that the bunkers price for Heavy Fuel Oil has doubled in price in the last twelve months is why Shadotec wingsails are now being considered so seriously. WW and PGS have realized that by moving decisively in the near future they can accumulate valuable experience, as well as being able to enjoy a substantial competitive edge over other operators for a useful period of time. PGS have offered to make an exhibition quality model of one of their ships fitted with Shadotec wingsails and to exhibit it at major shipping exhibitions around the world.
This Business Plan has on its front page a computer generated image of an installation of Shadotec plc wingsails on a PGS survey vessel, which was created for PGS and is printed with their permission.
Shadotec has now been in constructive discussions with Wilhelm Wilhelmsen (“WW”) and Petroleum Geo-Services (“PGS”), two major Norwegian ship owners, for more than two years. These ship owners have recently set up, with substantial Norwegian government financial support, a serious feasibility study at Marintek in Trondheim in respect of the installation of Shadotec wingsails on their ships.
The initial results of this independent study have confirmed that two Shadotec wingsails fitted to a PGS seismic research vessel could save PGS some $300,000 to $600,000 a year per ship on a projected annual fuel bill of around $6m a year. These very high technology ships are typically only about 100 metres long, but to tow their huge arrays of hydrophonic streamers they have massive engine power of around 30,000 bhp.
By comparison, the mv Ashington dry cargo ship is about the same length, but used only 2,000 bhp to steam, fully laden, at her 12 knot service speed, carrying up to 6,500 tonnes of cargo, her single Walker wingsail saving up to 20% of her fuel consumption. The directors estimate that the same two Shadotec wingsails fitted to such a more conventional ship could save at least 30%-50% of her fuel bill.
