Turning back the clock

Commercial sailing vessels make a come-back

It seems a lifetime ago when schooners sailed Caribbean waters at the mercy of the winds, when loose cargo was loaded manually by stevedores and when seafarers really did need to know the ropes.

Now a French company wants shipping to turn back the clock to this bygone age with a bold vision of reintroducing commercial sailing vessels to the transatlantic liner trades as well as regular calls at ports in the Caribbean.

The planned new service forms part of a wider green-tinged maritime counter culture that appears to be gaining traction in sharp contrast to the economies of scale that have driven liner shipping in recent decades. So instead of rows of neatly stacked boxes this new service will be delighted to see cargo decks piled high with wooden barrels, cases of rum and loose gunny sacks.

Returning a profit

All this may be laudable especially a time when the wider shipping industry is, in any case, actively reducing its carbon emissions, but how does a company turn a profit from a slow-ish, entirely wind-reliant liner service and with a strictly limited cargo capacity? Well, Guillaume Le Grand CEO of Brittany-based TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT) thinks he has the answer. He aims to back his hunch by building four new purely sail-powered vessels at a total cost of around US$72 million for the company’s planned transatlantic liner service.

Diana and Guillaume

Despite those who may be sceptical that such a business model makes any sense, this is a serious commercial venture that aims to sell cargo space based on its ultralow carbon footprint. It’s a transport concept that immediately appeals to fair trade, highend, super sustainable brands that tend to retail at a serious premium and to those consumers who value such eco-products.

This view is quickly confirmed by leafing through the names of the 30 or so cargo owners who have already committed to the project. And here’s a perfect example: in July, French drinks company’s Martell Mumm Perrier-Jouët announced it had partnered with TOWT for the shipment from 2023 of at least 400,000 bottles of champagne and cognac per year to New York.

Passengers will be another source of revenue for TOWT and there will be 12 feepaying berths available per voyage. TOWT says these passengers will benefit from spacious cabins and access to common areas on board – such as a lounge, library, and a sun deck.

Up until now, TOWT has just charteredin small sailing vessels of up to 100 tons carrying capacity and only undertaken a variety of ad hoc voyages for its disparate cargoes of rum, coffee and cocoa. What’s now proposed is on another scale altogether.

The four vessels to be ordered will each be 67.5 meters in length, have a 1,000 tons cargo carrying capacity and would hope to achieve an average speed of 12 knots. But despite TOWT looking to launch the new service in late 2022, no firm orders for the quartet have, as yet, been placed with a shipyard.

Operations

While these three-masted sailing vessels will also trade elsewhere, emphasis will be placed on operations between the Caribbean/Central America and northern Europe with Guadeloupe and Santa Marta already identified by TOWT as ports of call.

TOWT will be the second French company to use purely sail or sailassisted power on transatlantic routes and alongside the Canopée which will operate for Jifmar Offshore Services between France and Guyane from late 2022 serving the European space site at Kourou.

FUTURE ORIENTED

TOWT describes itself as a future-oriented Breton company, specializing, since 2011 in the transport of goods by sail. Up until now TOWT has used former working or replica sailboats. TOWT says it is reviving an environmentally friendly mode of transportation that addresses current and future environmental issues. The company believes wind energy allows the transport of goods at both regional and international levels while considerably limiting CO2 emissions compared to conventional modes of transport.

FRANCE’S AGENCY FOR ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION (ADEME)

TOWT has for some time been conducting a research and development program for the construction of a new type of working sailing boat. Supported by France’s Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME), the project benefits from the Agency’s Investors of the Future Program. It aims to design a new generation of tall ships (such as the four vessels proposed by TOWT) for the transportation of goods that meet the criteria of cost, reliability, capacity and speed. It will enable the application of new technologies, particularly in naval architecture, and also new environmentally friendly logistical and commercial uses.

ANEMOS

All products shipped on TOWT’s vessel carry the ‘Anemos’ (the Greek word for wind) label. This label informs consumers that the products they buy are shipped onboard sailing ships. It provides buyers with the opportunity to discover the exact route of the ship, with pictures taken during the journey, weather data, carbon reduction – all adding, TOWT’s customers hope, to the purchasing experience.