This cargo ship runs on wind

[Judi Lynn]

01.10.2021 06:00 AM

Cargo ships pump millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. From 2022, some will swap fossil fuels for wind power



Imagine that the cup of coffee in your hand was transported all the way from Colombia not on a giant, polluting container ship, but by a sturdy sailing vessel using only wind power.

That’s the vision of TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT), a small cargo company based in France which is now scaling up to transport tens of thousands of tonnes per year.

Founded in 2011, TOWT has already transported over 1,000 tonnes of cargo across the ocean using small sailing ships. Now, the company is in the process of building four larger sail ships, which will travel on four maritime routes between Europe and destinations including New York, Guadeloupe, Brazil and the Ivory Coast. The maiden voyage of the first ship is planned for late 2022.

“Wind is abundant, it's powerful, it's now predictable,” says Guillaume Le Grand, co-founder and chief executive of TOWT. “And sail is the best way to actually harness it and to move heavy haul over long distances.”

More:
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/wind-powered-cargo-ships

[marble falls]

1. Sounds to me like a good investment opportunity.

[PoliticAverse]

2. Imagine a cargo ship running on wind? Yeah in 1800s - mid 1900s...

https://www.marineinsight.com/maritime-history/the-windjammer-sailing-ships-from-past-to-present/

[PortTack]

3. Wow!! Did a lot of sailing in my younger years...hope this catches on

[SergeStorms]

6. Your screen name...

is a dead giveaway.

I got into sailing after my divorce. OPBS, for the first 10 years or so, but being a deck ape was a great way to learn the art of sailing.

I owned a J-35 for 17 years, but the innovations in sailing turned what was (at the time) a fast boat into a garbage barge. As my body and health deteriorated with advanced age, sailing got put on the shelf along with other young men's pursuits.

But I'll always have the memories, and good lord are there a lot of fond memories from that period of my life. I'm quite confident you know exactly what I'm talking about.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Back in the 70s there were lots of schemes to bring back wind power...

during the oil crises.

None of them got too far.

[SergeStorms]

7. In this age...

of instant gratification, shipping goods by sailing vessel is a very slow way to transport anything. Extremely satisfying, but slow.

[Duppers]

5. Bravo!

All ships should.

[keithbvadu2]

8. Last commercial sailing ship around Cape Horn 1949

Last commercial sailing ship around Cape Horn 1949

[ShazzieB]

10. Now that's what they call a tall ship!

"I must go down to the seas again
To the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship
And a star to steer her by..."

from Sea Fever by John Masefield

[TomWilm]

9. An older flagship of engine-less sailing cargo

Tres Hombres is named after the three friends who started a clean shipping movement in 2007. The engine-less brigantine transports sustainable and organic cargo between South, Central and North America and Europe. Tres Hombres has become a shining example of the existing possibilities for alternative shipping methods and she is the ambassador for sail-powered cargo shipping worldwide. She carries a maximum of 40 tons of organic and traditionally crafted goods like Tres Hombres Rum, Cocoa, Coffee, Honey & Canned Fish.

The brigantine Tres Hombres was built in 1943 and then fully restored in order to sail in transatlantic engine-less freight service - and just passed my country with goods for the twelfth time. The visited me before they started the project for some sparring, though I am not a big sailor myself .

https://fairtransport.eu/tres-hombres/

[snpsmom]

11. Reminds me of a YA novel series

by Paolo Bacigalupi that starts with Shipbreaker

It's a really interesting dystopian series. In a lot of ways, were already living it.