VESSEL REVIEW | Spirit of Toulouse – LD Armateurs' newest Ro-Ro pairs wind-assist propulsion with methanol fuel
French shipowner LD Armateurs (LDA) has taken delivery of Spirit of Toulouse, the first of three wind-assisted Ro-Ro cargo vessels it will operate under charter to Airbus.
The vessel will carry large aircraft subassemblies across the Atlantic, principally from Saint-Nazaire in France to Airbus's A320-family final assembly facility in Mobile, Alabama. She can carry six sets of components for single-aisle aircraft: wings, fuselage sections, engine pylons, and horizontal and vertical tail planes. She also has space for around seventy 40-foot containers.
Spirit of Toulouse was built by the Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group, a China State Shipbuilding Corporation subsidiary, to a design by Finnish naval architecture firm Deltamarin. The designer developed the concept for LDA before undertaking basic and detail design for the shipyard. Construction began in October 2024, and the vessel was launched on February 5, 2026.
Flexible propulsion arrangement suited to a range of sailing conditions
The French-flagged, Bureau Veritas-classed vessel has an LOA of approximately 168 metres (551 feet), a length between perpendiculars of 163 metres (535 feet), a beam of 23.32 metres (76.51 feet), and a depth of 8.5 metres (28 feet). Her design draught is 5.7 metres (19 feet) and her scantling draught is six metres (20 feet).
She has a gross tonnage of 19,021, a deadweight of 5,300, and a service speed of 14 knots.
Wind assistance is provided by six electrically rotated Norsepower rotor sails, each 35 metres (110 feet) high and five metres (16 feet) in diameter. The units use the Magnus effect to generate thrust and reduce the propulsion load on the main engines.
Norsepower's control system provides real-time force measurement, rotor operation, and reporting on savings. The system operates each rotor separately to address aerodynamic interaction between the sails and the vessel's hydrodynamic response. CFD analysis and wind tunnel testing informed the sail arrangement.
To counter the lateral forces generated by the rotors, the vessel is fitted with a foldable anti-drift fin system from Becker Marine Systems. The company said the system was successfully tested during sea trials.
Each fin has a surface area of 8.8 square metres (95 square feet), and the system is designed to generate 300 kN of lift. Becker said the fins reduce leeway and improve course stability, so more of the wind energy captured by the rotors is converted into forward propulsion.
Berg Propulsion supplied the drivetrain, feathering controllable-pitch propellers, and MPC800 controls with dynamic drive integration. The propellers can be driven separately by the main engines or electric motors, or by both at once.
Mattias Dombrowe, business manager for electrical system integration at Berg, said that the propellers can also operate in boost mode to achieve full speed when required. When the rotor sails are in service, one or both of the propellers can be feathered to optimise wind-assisted operations.
Multi-fuel capability and other emissions-reducing features
The machinery comprises two dual-fuel main engines and two dual-fuel generator sets that can run on e-methanol, bio-methanol, or diesel. LDA has also specified propellers and shafts made from recycled steel, low-friction anti-fouling coatings, smart power management, a heat conversion system, and routing software with AI-based control.
LDA expects each ship in the new fleet to cut annual CO2 emissions by 70 per cent compared with the previous generation. Airbus has projected that annual CO2 emissions from its trans-Atlantic shipping will fall from 68,000 tonnes to 33,000 tonnes by 2030.
Norsepower has described Spirit of Toulouse as the largest Ro-Ro vessel equipped with wind propulsion and said she carries more rotor sails than any other Ro-Ro. The vessel’s rotor system will undergo additional optimisation during her maiden voyage from China to France.
Sister vessel Spirit of Mobile was launched in June, and a third ship, Spirit of Mirabel, will complete the series. When the first new ship enters Atlantic service, Airbus plans to transfer the existing vessel City of Hamburg to its Mediterranean route.