EPS Secures First-Ever Financing from FEET Fund for Two Wind-Assisted Propulsion Vessels

Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS), the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) and AIM Horizon Investments announced the first financing awarded by the Fund for Energy Efficiency Technologies (FEET) to install wind-assisted propulsion systems on two vessels operated by the Singapore-based carrier. This marks the first deployment of the fund since its creation.

FEET was launched by GCMD and AIM Horizon Investments in November 2025 with $35 million in investor backing, aimed at financing the retrofitting of energy efficiency technologies on merchant vessels. The fund is managed by AIM Horizon Investments, with GCMD serving as decarbonisation advisor, and is backed by the Development Bank of Japan as anchor investor, together with ING and DBS Bank as debt providers. Its “pay-as-you-save” mechanism offers up to 100% upfront financing within a blended finance structure, linking shipowners' payments to independently verified fuel savings.

The financing covers the Pacific Sentinel, built in 2019, and the Pacific Sunstone, built in 2026, each fitted with three 22-metre suction sails from supplier bound4blue. The Pacific Sentinel had its sails installed in early 2025, while the agreement for the Pacific Sunstone was signed in late 2025, when the vessel was still under construction. Both are the first vessels in EPS's fleet to adopt wind propulsion.

The financing scheme draws on a methodology previously developed by GCMD and EPS aboard the Pacific Sentinel to quantify the fuel savings generated by wind propulsion. Between May and September 2025, while the vessel traded in the spot market across the Americas, GCMD collected 276 million data points and analysed 203 valid transitions between the system's on and off states to isolate its impact on fuel consumption. That methodology was reviewed by an independent third party and will be applied to projects financed by FEET, whose operational data will be audited and savings independently verified before calculating shipowners' payments.

Professor Lynn Loo, CEO of GCMD, noted that scaling these technologies requires not only proving that they work but establishing how much fuel they save under real operating conditions, adding that the first projects with EPS test how pay-as-you-save financing works in practice. Cyril Ducau, CEO of EPS, stated that decarbonisation moves faster when technology, data and financing come together, and highlighted that the Pacific Sentinel had already demonstrated the potential of wind-assisted propulsion in real-world operations. Marcel de Bruijckere, CEO of AIM Horizon Investments, added that launching a fund like FEET required significant effort and strong cooperation with GCMD and investors. Headquartered in Singapore, EPS operates a diversified fleet of more than 350 vessels across the container, car carrier, dry bulk, gas and tanker segments.