With wind-assist technology going mainstream, South Korea’s largest shipbuilding group has debuted its only sail system.
HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, the holding company of HD Hyundai, has unveiled its Hi-Wing, a prototype of which has gone through land trials, and will shortly be tested at sea on an MR tanker belonging to HMM, South Korea’s flagship line.
The 30 m high hard sail can be folded down in bad weather to protect navigational stability.
There has been a rapid uptake of wind-assist technology in the global fleet since 2021, with 52 seagoing ships now in operation and 97 newbuilds with wind tech in the orderbook as of January 2025, plus many more ships earmarked for retrofitting, according to a recent white paper from DNV. Currently, 75% of the wind-assist fleet are retrofits.
For bulkers and tankers, today’s dominant wind technologies are rotor sails (54%), while for general cargo ships the dominant technology is suction sails (67%). In total, rotor sails make up almost 50% of the current overall uptake.
