An era of greener and more efficient shipping could be in the offing as an exclusively modified 43,000-ton bulk freighter finishes off a six-month trial at sea using a blend of diesel engines and high-tech automatic sails for catching the wind.
Combining sail and power is not a new speciality. It dates back to the first steamships when shipmasters were not unusually keen to depend on a portable, half-experimental steam engine to cross the ocean. Even now, the...