A performance prediction program dedicated to merchant ships was developed to assess fuel saving capabilities of a kite. The solving of the parameterization presented led to kite velocities and tethers tensions predictions continuously along a flight path within the wind window, including especially wind gradient and ship velocity. Both static and dynamic flight cases were considered regarding optimization strategy for kite tow efficiency. For dynamic flight case azimuth, elevation and orientation of the trajectory are continuously optimized in the present optimization algorithm. Finally, using a 320 m~2 kite on a 50000 dwt tanker, the fuel saving computed is about 10 % for a wind velocity of 5 Beaufort and reaches more than 50 % for a wind velocity of 7 Beaufort.
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