Shipping is going back to the future. Thousands of years after the Egyptians first used sails to move boats along the Nile, big businesses are once again considering the power of wind to transport goods around the world.

From giant kites to towering sails, technologies are being developed to propel vessels with less need for fossil fuels, just as the elevated cost of energy and stricter environmental regulations put pressure on the shipping industry to clean up.

Wind power enthusiasts believe these technologies should play a leading role in ambitions to eliminate carbon emissions from the supply chain. Others, however, have pointed to the limited benefits on certain ships or trade routes. They have also questioned whether the shipping industry, which has been one of the most resistant to decarbonisation, can be incentivised to invest the millions needed to rebuild the global fleet.