Goulwen Joss, skipper of Grain de Sail, on his arrival in Nantes on February 17, 2021. -
AFP
For several years now, a handful of players have been trying to revive the transport of goods by sailing ships, taking the opposite view of container ships, these giants of the seas that run mainly on heavy fuel oil.
Until then, this sailing freight mainly used old rigs.
We are now moving to a new stage, with the arrival of the first modern cargo sailboats, designed with current technologies to optimize this transport of goods.
It started very small, with Sail's Grain schooner.
But the projects abound, in particular with Towt and Neoline which seek to take customers with the traditional container ships.
A small step for a sailboat but a big step for the transport of goods by sail?
On February 18,
Sail's
schooner
Grain
completed its first transatlantic loop in Nantes, which had started three months earlier in Saint-Malo.
The ship had left with, in its holds, 15,000 bottles of wine from New York wine merchants.
Then he joined the Dominican Republic to load 33 tonnes of cocoa there to bring back to our coasts before transporting them by road to Morlaix (Finistère), where Grain Sail has its chocolate factory and will transform them into tablets.
The first modern freighter
This first merchant sailing expedition, the Breton company had dreamed of for a long time.
“In 2013, we started selling products [coffee, chocolate, etc.] from raw materials that we brought on board classic container ships, but already with the idea of setting aside funds to build our sailboat cargo ”, says Stefan Gallard, Marketing Director of Grain de Sail.
Admittedly, with its 24 meters long and its loading capacity of 50 tons, the schooner does not look like the current container ships, the largest of which are 400 meters and carry more than 20,000 containers.
But
Grain de Sail
is notable “that it is the first modern freighter”, says Stefan Gallard.
The stake is not trivial.
90% of the goods transported in the world use the sea route, the vast majority on container ships that run on heavy fuel oil, an energy that emits a lot of greenhouse gases.
The sector thus represents 2 to 3% of global emissions and the IMO (World Maritime Organization) has undertaken to reduce them by half by 2050.
Already a first stage of validated with old-rigs
In this context, sail freight has a card to play.
In any case, entrepreneurs are working to bring it back to life.
In France, this is the case with Towt (Transoceanique Wind Transport).
Since 2011, this shipping company has chartered old rigs to take them across the Atlantic Ocean or connect the ports of Europe, the holds full of goods.
Rum from Marie-Galante, coffee and cocoa from Central America, green tea from the Azores, beer from Cornouailles… Unlike Grain de Sail, the Towt does not transport these foodstuffs for itself but for the account of brands and distributors willing to pay a little more for the transport of their goods but whose approach they can promote to their customers with the Anemos label.
“In ten years, we have launched around 40 shipments and transported 1,000 tonnes of goods,” notes Grégoire Théry, Towt's development manager.
We have thus shown that sailing freight could be economically viable - the Towt achieved 200,000 euros in turnover in 2019 - and that this was of interest to a growing number of brands and distributors.
"
The arrival of a new generation of tall cargo ships should be seen as the next step.
While Grain de Sail is already planning the construction of a second vessel, this time with a transport capacity of 300 tonnes, its model remains atypical.
Its boats remain small and take their time at sea: three months for the return Atlantic crossing.
Not enough to compete with container ships, but Grain de Sail does not care.
“We only transport for ourselves so that our ships are suited to our needs, no more,” recalls Stefan Gallard.
Other cargo ships in the boxes
Other French players have projects for sail cargo ships with the idea, this time, of grabbing customers from classic container ships.
Towt wants to order, by this summer, four cargo sailboats 78 meters long and capable of carrying 1,100 tonnes of goods.
"The first is expected at the end of 2022 and the others to follow at a rate of one per year," indicates Grégoire Chéry.
From 2025, we plan to transport 72,000 tonnes of goods per year from 2025. ”No longer just food and drink, but also textiles, cosmetics and luxury products ... Still on both sides of the Atlantic but also to the 'Africa (Abidjan and Djibouti) or Brazil.
The Towt plans to have a fleet of four freighter like this by 2025. - / Computer generated image Towt
In yet another genre, there is Neoline.
Founded in 2015, the Nantes shipowner wants to put into service, at the end of 2023, a 136-meter and 24-meter wide cargo sailboat.
Enough to load 280 containers but also and above all “non-standard” goods, in which Neoline wants to specialize.
The ship - a ro-ro - will leave Saint-Nazaire to reach Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Halifax (Canada) then Baltimore (United States) before starting the return.
Although construction has not started, Neoline has already concluded several agreements with companies committing to use its vessel.
This is the case with Renault, the Manitou group (trolleys and nacelles) or Benneteau (pleasure boats) for oversized products, but also JAS Hennesy & Co (cognac) and Michelin for container transport.
“On the outward journey, the holds are already almost full,” says Bénédicte Enaux, communications officer at Neoline.
The owner is already planning to add a second freighter on the line.
And Florent Violain, president of the French Wind Ship association, which brings together players who promote velic propulsion (using the wind) in maritime transport, also draws attention to the company's just unveiled cargo ship project. Scandinavian maritime Wallenius Wilhelmsein.
The
Orcelle Wind
is announced for 2025
and will also specialize in vehicle transport.
It will be able to take on board up to 7,000 tonnes.
Neoline wants to launch, by the end of 2023, a freighter-sailboat, more precisely a ro-ro, these ships specializing in transporting vehicles.
- / Neoline computer generated image
Advantages to be made over container ships?
A sign, again, of a growing interest in sailing freight?
For Grégoire Chery like Bénédicte Enaux, the companies that are interested in it do not just seek to improve the image of their brand.
For certain goods, sailing freight is also becoming more and more economically attractive.
“And even more with this new generation of freighter,” explains the Towt development manager.
They will go almost as fast as container ships [14 days for a Le Havre-New York, the Towt provides] and their boarding capacity will reduce transport costs.
From a few euros per kilo of merchandise on an old rig to a few cents tomorrow.
"
On these two criteria, the cargo ships are therefore similar to what conventional container ships offer.
They also have their strengths.
That of the wind, already, the price of which fluctuates much less than that of heavy fuel oil.
That of their size, too, which remains small compared to container ships and allows them to depart from a greater number of ports than the latter.
Not negligible.
Bénédicte Eneaux takes the example of Benneteau, a Vendée group, “whose boats intended for the American market must currently be loaded in Rotterdam”.
Not easy by road.
Tomorrow, with Neoline, they will leave Saint-Nazaire.
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The merchant navy more and more seduced by sail propulsion?
Grain de Sail, la Towt, Neoline….
If these companies are currently working on merchant ships mainly upwind fuel, it is however only part of the shipowners and technology developers that the Wind Ship association brings together.
“At the same time, other players are also working on encouraging the development of velic propulsion in the maritime transport of goods,” says Florent Violain, president of the association.
At least as an additional propulsion mode which will allow the boat to have less recourse to the main one, which can be heavy fuel oil or liquefied natural gas, which remains fossil fuel.
"
This was the whole idea of the French Jifmar and Zephir & Borée, a tandem that won the Ariane Group tender to deliver the parts for the future Ariane 6 rocket from Europe to Kourou.
And it will be aboard Canopée, their hybrid cargo ship with four articulated vertical wings that will allow it to consume on average 30% less fuel than a conventional ship.
Even 45% in optimal conditions.
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