Grouping like-minded organisations and individuals to share ideas, skills, and technical know-how for the development of the future fleet of commercial wind ships both retrofit and newbuild.
Promoting the economic value, investment opportunities and policy compliance contribution of wind propulsion for the shipping industry, cargo owners, ports and job creation.
Delivering a central information hub on the wind propulsion sector, for ship owners and operators, shipyards, ports, governments, equipment producers, the media, NGOs, and the wider public.
Securing funding streams, generating project collaboration, supporting grant applications, coordinating research and the pooling of resources to further build out the wind propulsion sector.
Streamlining all stages of project development, support stakeholders, advise and lobby legislative bodies on the policies, activities, funding and incentives required to retrofit existing ships and new build wind ships.
There are already over 56 large ocean-going vessels with wind propulsion systems installed, with over 100 rigs and equalling more than three and a half million dwt of shipping. This already includes four primary wind ships over 400GT and there are also seven wind-ready vessels. The pipeline now includes some 80+ orders, pending installations and primary wind new builds underway along with a further 20+ smaller sail cargo and small cruise vessels using wind. Together, that is more than all the large ships currently operating using new low- and zero-emissions fuels combined.
GAVIN ALLWRIGHT, Seceretary General IWSA
The Association is much more than simply a grouping of like-minded organisations dedicated to the goal of bringing wind propulsion back into commercial shipping, we are a collaboration hub that harnesses an ever expanding network of aligned projects and programs, pulling together expert capacity and cooperating with policy developers, decision makers and other stakeholders throughout the maritime and energy sectors working on the energy transition for transport. Our small secretariat overseas and helps coordinate those activities on a daily basis headed by our elected Secretary general. Oversight and strategic direction is maintained by an Executive committee that is drawn up from our global membership and also elected annually.
Members engage in both internal working groups covering areas around policy, technical regulation, market development and communications, but these experts and our Secretariat also participate in numerous external joint industry projects, research projects and work streams at international, regional, industry and national levels.
IWSA holds consultative/observers status at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), helps coordinate the wind propulsion workstream in the European Sustainable Shipping Forum (ESSF) and is recognised as an expert body by the the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Gavin Allwright is the founding Secretary General of the International Windship Association (IWSA), established in 2014. and continues in this elected post today. He heads the IWSA delegation at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) where the organisation holds consultative status, along with sitting on the European Sustainable Shipping Forum and until recently also on the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres (MTCC) stakeholder’s advisory committee.
He is also a non-executive board member on the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) and acts in an advisory capacity for numerous maritime projects and initiatives.
Gavin holds a Masters degree in Sustainable Development, specialising in small scale sustainable shipping and logistics in developing countries. He regularly runs seminars and short course as a visiting lecturer at a number of universities and colleges, including the UN World Maritime University, Malmo, Sweden. He also regularly writes articles on the development of wind propulsion and sustainable shipping for a number of publications and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Sailing Technology.
General Representative, Wind Ship Association, France
Lise Detrimont is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Windship Association (IWSA) and serves as the General Representative of the Wind Ship Association in France.
A graduate agronomist engineer, she has over 20 years of experience in project management, with specialized expertise in maritime law and engineering. Deeply committed to advancing sustainable shipping, Lise Detrimont initiated the Wind Ship movement in France, building on the foundational work of the IWSA. Her efforts have united French wind-ship companies, which have collectively engaged public authorities and civil society to accelerate the ecological and energy transition within the maritime industry.
Based in Nantes, she carries out a wide range of responsibilities, including promoting wind-assisted propulsion, facilitating dialogue with maritime stakeholders, national and local authorities, research institutes, professional associations, and NGOs. She is also involved in producing briefs, reports, contributions, technical and regulatory analyses, organizing or participating in events, and ensuring coordination with the International Windship Association.
Chief Production and Partnerships Officer, Anemoi Marine Technologies Ltd, UK
Nick is a Chartered Engineer with a degree in Engineering from the University of Exeter. He has over 20 years’ experience across multi-disciplinary engineering and shipping sectors, with a proven track record of delivering complex engineering projects in Europe and the Far East.
Nick is one of the founding members of Anemoi which he took a lead role in setting up, following an established career working at a prestigious ship owning company and as a consultant at some of the world’s largest providers of professional and technical services.
Nick is extremely passionate about innovation and the environment, so delivering renewable wind propulsion solutions to the shipping and maritime sector is a perfect fit as the industry looks for sustainable ways to operate and lower its environmental impact on the natural world.
Co-Founder, International Windship Association.
Born 1952 in Berlin. Educated as teacher , worked more than 25 years with Thomas Cook in tourism. Started 2009 with his own consulting companies mantour (tourism) and ConZES (sustainability, energy, shipping). Met Gavin and Patrick Englebert in 2012 and discussed the need of promoting wind propulsion in shipping.
In 2014, Siegfried became the Co-Initiator and Co-Founder of IWSA and has been a valued member of the Executive committee since these early days of the association. He has also been involved in projects to develop new wind propulsion systems e.g. Crane Rig and is currently active in efforts to move German shipping industries to use wind technologies.
CEO and Co-founder of Magnuss, USA
James Rhodes is a seasoned executive and entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in maritime shipping, renewable energy, climate finance, and power generation. Mr. Rhodes is the CEO and Co-founder of Magnuss, a maritime technology and project development firm, which provides onboard systems that reduce fuel consumption and emissions for global shipping. Magnuss created and patented a wind-based propulsion system called the Magnuss VOSS (or Vertically-variable Ocean Sail System), for which Mr. Rhodes is the co-inventor.
Dedicated to the decarbonization of maritime shipping worldwide, Mr. Rhodes sits on the Executive Committee of the IWSA and is a frequent speaker at industry events. Mr. Rhodes is named on multiple international patents in shipping and has authored numerous articles on sustainable shipping propulsion. Prior to establishing Magnuss, Mr. Rhodes was COO of GE/AES GHG Services, a renewable energy development firm and JV between General Electric and AES Corporation.
And before that, for twelve years, Mr. Rhodes was Managing Director in investment banking at Morgan Stanley, after spending a decade in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and in management consulting at Booz Allen. He holds an M.B.A. with distinction from Columbia Business School and a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Brown University.
Co-founder, Bound4Blue, Spain
Cristina Aleixendri Muñoz is co-founder of bound4blue, a company developing suction sail technology to reduce fuel consumption and emissions in shipping. She holds a BSc and MSc in Aeronautical Engineering and an Executive MBA from IESE Business School. Cristina has also completed business programs at the University of Cambridge, ESADE Business School, and Singularity University.
With experience in wind-assisted propulsion systems, Cristina has participated in over 15 national and European projects and holds more than 11 patents in this field.
Co-Founder and CEO, Advanced Wing Systems, Australia
Johnston is the CEO and Co-Founder of an innovative early-stage technology company, Advanced Wing Systems (www.advancedwingsystems.com), which has developed a novel and cost-effective way of rapidly deploying wind propulsion systems for both new-build and legacy shipping fleets.
This technology was born from Johnston’s unique skill set and his passion for sailing. The underlying concept for Advanced Wings was developed for competitive sailing yachts and was extensively and successfully trialed as part of the America’s Cup.
Johnston, and his brother Patrick, were invited by the New York Yacht Club American Magic to work with their aero team and trial their wing technology for the 36th America’s Cup challenge. They were responsible for the development of the first fully functional wing sail in the America’s Cup 75 Class. Johnston, his brother, and the American Magic team saw firsthand the benefits of this unique sail technology.
The wing sail technology was further refined, and the Johnston brothers conducted an extended sea trail covering over 7,500 nautical miles. They took the learnings from this trial and developed the concept further to scale the wing technology to address the challenges of de-carbonization and fuel efficiency in the commercial shipping industry. The resulting design is a smart, modular, rapidly deployable wind propulsion solution.
In addition to Johnston’s technical skills, he has over a decade of experience identifying and guiding promising engineering start-ups for the well-renowned technology incubator TechStart Australia. He also launched and development of his own software company XempleX. Through these roles, Johnston has refined the skills necessary to develop effective engineering and technical solutions. He also has the necessary experience, and business acumen to successfully grow Advanced Wings to its full potential, which is to deliver significant environmental and financial benefits for ship owners, operators, and contractors.
CCOO, Norsepower, Finland
Jukka Kuuskoski (M.Sc., Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering & eMBA) is the Chief Customer Operations Officer (CCOO) at Norsepower and has worked with the company since 2016. He has 30 years of experience with wind power and marine industry companies.
Executive Fellow, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., Japan
He is working for expanding the wind propulsion technology and accelerating the usage of the hydrogen energy in Maritime industry. MOL aims to realize the target of CO2 net zero emission by 2050 with the study of the various technology as well as the wind propulsion and hydrogen usage technology as an incorporated in the project “Wind Challenger” and “Wind Hunter”.
Since he joined to MOL in 1991, he has been heavily involved in working for improvements in ship quality and the technical competitiveness of all MOL ships, drawing on his engineering experience working as the supervisor of ship design. In addition, he gained experience as a Superintendent of LNG carriers in a ship management company.
His work experience outside Japan includes London, UK, in the business development of
FSRU together with an engineering partner from 2008 to 2011; and Shanghai, China,
together with a Chinese ship owner, as the project manager of a new building LNG
carriers project from 2012 to 2015.
He was appointed as General Manager of the Technical Division in April 2017. While he
was working as the General Manager, he oversaw the introduction of the new “Offshore
Technical Division” in 2020, which handles the development and execution of FSRU and
Offshore business. From 2021, he was assigned as Executive Officer and leading the
Technical Division, the Offshore Technical Division, and the Smart Shipping Division as
Chief Technical Officer and Director General of Headquarters of Technology Innovation. He received a Naval Architect bachelor degree at the Yokohama National University in
1991.
CEO, Oceanwings, France
Emmanuel Schalit is a Franco- American Entrepreneur, CEO, Board Director, and Angel Investor. He is the CEO of OceanWings. OceanWings, leader in maritime transport decarbonation, is a French industrial company that designs, manufactures and markets OceanWings®, rigid wings designed for installation on cargo ships and yachts, helping to reduce CO2 emissions by cutting fossil fuel consumption. Prior to his appointment as CEO, he was the Chairman of the Board at OceanWings since November 2021.
Prior to joining OceanWing’s board, Emmanuel was Co-Founder and CEO of Dashlane which he led for 9 years, growing the company from 4 to 350 employees, raising more than $200 million in capital from tier 1 US investors. Prior to Dashlane, Emmanuel was the CEO of CBS Outdoor France, a top 3 Outdoor advertising company, the COO of LMG Group, a leading international publishing group, and SVP at Vivendi Universal where he led a global K-12 Publishing division with 1.5 billion € in revenue. Emmanuel holds a master’s degree in Math and Physics from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and a PhD in Computer Science from Université of Toulouse. He also studied Marketing and Finance in the Executive Education Program at Harvard Business School.
Founder, Dasivedo Design, UK/Canada
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