Hoist the mainsail -- a thing that looks like a giant vertical pipe -- and switch on your battery the size of a small bus: merchant shippers are trying out bold new approaches in their battle to improve environmental performance against a backdrop of mounting regulatory pressure.

Maersk Tankers A/S is testing two almost 100-foot-high rotor sails on one of its fuel carriers, while Norway’s Golden Energy Offshore Services AS this week said it ordered two of Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc’s battery-powered energy storage systems for it ships.

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