Isaac Ashe

BBC News, Leicester

A manufacturing firm in landlocked Leicestershire is making waves in the shipping industry with a new green sail.

Based in Melton Mowbray, KS Composites said it was "about as far away from the sea as you can get in the UK".

But for the past nine months, the firm has been designing and producing the sail for GT Wings' 66ft (20m) tall Air Wing, which will cut fuel consumption, and as a result, the amount of carbon which ships produce on their journeys.

The first one, measuring 20m by 2.5m, was strapped to a lorry and taken carefully by a convoy to the port at Hull on Friday to be installed on a cargo ship.

When in place, the blades are made up of a steel centre shaft and outer wing, and use wind power to help propel the vessel.

Jamie Smith, managing director of the family-run firm that employs 150 people, said KS Composites was normally involved in manufacturing for the automotive and motorsports industries.

Mr Smith said while his firm had 40 years of history, the product was a new innovation both for the industry and for KS Composites.

He said: "This is GT Wings' first official product that's going to be put on to the water.

"The sector itself has had these cargo blades in and around them probably for the last five years, but they're only really starting to create a lot of traction in the last 12 to 18 months.

"We started production in anger in May. We had to do all of the design for manufacture, the patents and then the physical components.

"Our intention is to hopefully be building more of these in 2025."