The French-built and owned sailing cargo ship Anemos recently completed its first transatlantic run from Europe to New York carrying 1,000 tons of champagne, brandy and win
As we reported last summer, the Anemos and her sister ship are run by the start-up TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT) and will ply routes from France to New York, New York to South America to load coffee beans and then back to France.
Guillaume Le Grand, the company’s founder and CEO, is confident that wind-driven cargo ships will be able to compete with container ships that run on fossil fuels. The 265-foot ship uses modern sailing technology with a crew of just seven sailors and advanced weather routing software to find the best wind and best routes for each passage.
Plus, he says, ships like his can load and unload cargo without the need for a container port and thus they do not have to wait for days or weeks to for a crane to come open and they do not have the huge port and harbor-tug fees charged to container ships.
The Anemos and her sister ship will sail the Atlantic year around and will be joined by six new ships by the end of 2026. Le Grand predicts that his fleet will grow to dozens of sailing ships in the decade ahead as customers get increasingly comfortable with the scheduling and timing of sailing cargo ocean crossings.
In addition to the sailing rig with eight sail combinations on two-tall masts, the ships are powered by modern hybrid electric motor for periods of calm and while maneuvering in and out of ports. The electric motors become generators when the ships are sailing fast enough that will recharge the huge battery banks.
Because the ships do not have to factor the highly volatile price of fuel into their business model, they are able to write long-term contracts at set prices for their shipping clients. And while TOWT’s nominal shipping rates are slightly higher than average container ship charges, companies can use the carbon credits earned by the sailing ships to apply against their companies’ mandated need to cut their carbon footprints.
For high-end products like champagne, there is a certain cache to delivering the product with green technology and this can be used in marketing campaigns to their well-heeled customers.
TOWT will be a boutique transatlantic shipping company for the next few years, but Le Grand has proven the concept, established long-term customers and is now building his fleet of the future. Perhaps, one day, TOWT will build passenger ships for the sailing oceanic routes? Read more.
