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The Pyxis Ocean sailed from China to Brazil in September 2023, partially powered by large ‘wings’.

Cargill

A cargo ship with a difference is set to dock at the Polish port of Gdynia early next week.

The Pyxis Ocean, a bulk carrier that is 229 meters long and 32 meters wide, looks like any other dry cargo vessel — but with a big difference: it is fitted with two large, rigid sails known as WindWings.

These 37.5-meter-tall wings use wind power to help propel the vessel and in doing so reduce the amount of fuel it uses in an effort to cut carbon — shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The ship set sail from Shanghai, China, on Aug. 1, with around 20 crew onboard, and its voyage took it to Paranagua, Brazil in September before it set sail for the Spanish island of Tenerife, and then on to Poland. The wings have been folded down when the ship docked at ports on its journey.

The WindWings were added to the six-year-old vessel with the aim of cutting fuel use by about 20% on the voyage, according to Jan Dieleman, president of Cargill Ocean Transportation, which chartered the Pyxis Ocean.

Net zero goals

Cargill’s calculations suggest that WindWings could contribute to around a 30% reduction in fossil fuel consumption when three wings are installed on a new build ship — but if that vessel is powered with a biofuel, that figure could go up to 50%, Dieleman said.

In July, the maritime industry agreed to reduce emissions to net zero “by or around” 2050, but given the size and complexity of the sector, issues such as a lack of green fuels could cause delays.

“Wind is not going to get us to zero — unless we’re all willing to switch off the engines and go back in time … But what we’re trying to do here with this specific technology, is somehow combine the best of both worlds, still have reliability [with an engine], but reduce significantly the fuel usage,” Dieleman told CNBC by video call.

Biofuels such as green methanol and green ammonia are more costly than fossil fuels, and it’s not simply a case of switching one for another: methanol has about half the energy density of hydrocarbons so need larger tanks, for example.

“If you can reduce the volume [of fuel] by 30% you have another gain, [in] that you don’t have to put your ship all full of tanks instead of cargo capacity,” Dieleman said.

“I do get very excited with the combination of wind plus the new fuels, because new fuels [are] three, four times more expensive, then [by adding wind power] your payback is probably going to be two, three years instead of 10 years,” he added. This might encourage more ship owners to participate in schemes like this, because they are potentially more financially rewarding and less risky, Dieleman said.

One of the folded-down ‘wings’ that helped the Pyxis Ocean sail from China to Brazil, arriving in September 2023.

Cargill

Cargill has ordered five methanol-powered bulk carrier vessels, the first of which was ordered in 2022, before the WindWings were tested at sea. Once the wings’ performance has been evaluated, Cargill hopes to work with the shipyard building the new vessels to add WindWings to their design.

While the Pyxis Ocean’s voyage has been relatively smooth, there have been some ports that were reluctant to accept it, “because it’s different,” Dieleman said. “It takes us time to get innovation in a very traditional industry … even with the best will and the best people trying to push this, you still have a lot of hoops to go through,” he added.

The WindWings are not suitable for all vessels: it wouldn’t be possible to install them on a cargo ship that carries large containers that are many layers tall, for example. Bulk carriers like the Pyxis Ocean store their goods — such as grain — inside their cavities, below deck.

Shipping is a complex industry with many parties involved in funding and developing new technology, and it has taken four years since the beginning of the project for the Pyxis Ocean to set sail, Dieleman said.

The WindWings were developed by Cargill with naval architect Bar Technologies, and produced by Yara Marine Technologies, while the Pyxis Ocean is owned by Mitsubishi Corporation.

“This is this is a prime example, I think, of where people come together, and really genuinely [are] willing to make a difference, taking some risk. We have an owner that is letting us cut big holes in the ship — that that is not what every owner in the world is willing to do,” Dieleman said.

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U.S. Steel shares rally as Trump approves Nippon takeover with unique government ‘golden share’

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U.S. Steel shares rally as Trump approves Nippon takeover with unique government 'golden share'

U.S. President Donald Trump walks as workers react at U.S. Steel Corporation–Irvin Works in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 30, 2025.

Leah Millis | Reuters

U.S. Steel shares jumped on Monday after President Donald Trump approved its controversial merger with Japan’s Nippon Steel.

U.S. Steel shares were last up about 5% in premarket trading.

Trump issued an executive order on Friday that allowed U.S. Steel and Nippon to finalize their merger so long as they signed a national security agreement with the U.S. government. The companies said they signed the agreement with the government, completing the final hurdle for the deal.

U.S. Steel said the national security agreement includes a golden share for the U.S .government, without specifying what powers the government would wield with its share. Trump said on Thursday that the golden share gives the U.S. president “total control.”

Typically, golden shares allow the holder veto power over important decisions the company makes. Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick told CNBC in May that the golden share will give the U.S. government control of several board seats and ensure production levels aren’t cut.

Trump has avoided calling the transaction a merger, describing the deal instead as a “partnership.” U.S. Steel confirmed in a regulatory filing Monday that the company will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Steel North America.

“All regulatory approvals required for the completion of the Transaction have been received,” U.S. Steel said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. “The Transaction remains subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, and is expected to be completed promptly.”

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Israel vows Iran will ‘pay the price’ as attacks continue for a fourth day

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Israel vows Iran will 'pay the price' as attacks continue for a fourth day

Trails of Iranian ballistic missiles light up the night sky as seen from Gaza City during renewed missile strikes launched by Iran in retaliation against Israel on June 15, 2025.

Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images

Tehran will “pay the price” for its fresh missile onslaught against Israel, the Jewish state’s defense minister warned Monday, as markets braced for a fourth day of ramped-up conflict between the regional powers.

Fire exchanges have continued since Israel’s Friday attack against Iran, with Iranian media reporting Tehran’s latest strikes hit Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, home to a major refinery. CNBC has reached out to operator Bazan for comment on the state of operations at the Haifa plant, amid reports of damage to Israel’s energy infrastructure.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said overnight it deployed “innovative methods” that “disrupted the enemy’s multi-layered defense systems, to the point that the Zionist air defense systems engaged in targeting each other,” according to a statement obtained by NBC News.

Israel has widely depended on its highly efficient Iron Dome missile defense system to fend off attacks throughout regional conflicts — but even it can be overwhelmed if a large number of projectiles are fired.

Tankers depicted in the Strait of Hormuz — a strategically important waterway which separates Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Why Iran won’t block the Hormuz Strait oil artery even as war with Israel looms

The fresh hostilities are front-of-mind for investors, who have been weighing the odds of further escalation in the conflict and spillover into the broader oil-rich Middle East, amid concerns over crude supplies and the key shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

Oil prices retained the gains of recent days and at 09:19 a.m. London time, Ice Brent futures with August delivery were trading at $73.81 per barrel, down 0.57% from the previous trading session. The Nymex WTI contract with July expiry was at $72.7 per barrel, 0.38% lower.

Elsewhere, however, markets showed initial signs of shrugging off the latest hostilities early on Monday.

Spot prices for key safe-haven asset gold retreated early morning, down 0.42% to $3,417.83 per ounce after nearly notching a two-year-high earlier in the session, with U.S. gold futures also down 0.65% to $ 3,430.5

Tel Aviv share indices pointed higher, with the blue-chip TA-35 up 0.99% and the wider TA-125 up 1.33%.

European stock markets opened higher Monday, meanwhile, and U.S. stock futures were also in the green.

Luis Costa, global head of EM sovereign credit at Citigroup Global Markets, signaled the muted reaction could be, in part, attributed to hopes of a brisk resolution to the conflict.

“So markets are obviously, you know, bearing in mind all potential scenarios. There are obviously potentially very bad scenarios in this story,” he told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Monday. “But there is still a way out in terms of, you know, a faster resolution and bringing Iran to the table, or a short continuation here, of a very surgical and intense strike by the Israeli army.”

U.S. response in focus

As of Monday morning, Israel’s national emergency service Magen David Adom reported four dead and 87 injured following rocket strikes at four sites in “central Israel,” reporting collapsed buildings, fire and people trapped under debris.

Accusing Tehran of targeting civilians in Israel to prevent the Israel Defense Forces from “continuing the attack that is collapsing its capabilities,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, a close longtime ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a Google-translated social media update that “the residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon.”

The IDF on Sunday said it had in turn “completed a wide-scale wave of strikes on numerous weapon production sites belonging to the Quds Force, the IRGC and the Iranian military, in Tehran.”

CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.

The U.S.’ response is now in focus, given its close support and arms provision to Israel, the unexpected cancellation of Washington’s latest nuclear deal talks with Iran, and President Donald Trump’s historically hard-hitting stance against Tehran during his first term.

Trump, who has been pushing Iran for a deal over its nuclear program, has weighed in on the conflict, opposing an Israeli proposal to kill Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to NBC News.

Discussions about the conflict are expected to take place during the ongoing meeting of the G7, encapsulating Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S., along with the European Union.

CNBC’s Katrina Bishop contributed to this report.

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Tesla on ‘self-driving’ gets stuck on train track and hit by train

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Tesla on 'self-driving' gets stuck on train track and hit by train

A Tesla Model 3 got stuck on a train track and was hit, albeit slightly, by a train in Sinking Spring, PA. The driver claimed it was in “self-driving mode.”

According to the fire alerts in Berks County, a Tesla Model 3 drove around a train track barrier near South Hull Street and Columbia Avenue and got stuck in the tracks.

The driver was able to exit the vehicle, but a train hit the car, reportedly snapping off the side mirror.

The fire commissioner ordered to stop all train traffic as the emergency services worked to get the Model 3 off the tracks using a crane.

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Spitlers Garage & Towing, performed the recovery and shared a few pictures on Facebook:

The Tesla driver reportedly claimed that the vehicle was in “self-driving mode” leading up to getting stuck on the train tracks.

Tesla claims that all its vehicles built since 2016 will be capable of unsupervised self-driving with software updates; however, this has yet to occur.

Instead, Tesla has been selling a “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) package for up to $15,000 that requires the driver to constantly supervise the vehicle, with the driver remaining responsible for the car at all times.

Electrek’s Take

There have been instances of Tesla drivers engaging in reckless behavior and then attributing it to the Full Self-Driving (FSD) features.

I’m not saying it’s the case here, but it’s a possibility.

On the other side, I’ve seen FSD try to navigate around construction barriers. It’s possible that it tried to do that in this case, here and then got caught on the tracks.

We would need more data.

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