Charles Guyard / Photo credits: GLAZ / MATHIEU RIVRIN / HEMIS.FR / HEMIS.FR / HEMIS VIA AFP 8:30 a.m., March 9, 2024
Next Friday, a sailing cargo ship, the “Grain de Sail II”, will leave Saint-Malo to reach New York.
In these holds, several hundred tons of goods entrusted by French companies.
Europe 1 visited it before the big start of this virtuous loop.
Maritime transport that does not pollute, our ancestors did it, the Grain de Sail company is bringing it back up to date.
In a few days, the sailing cargo ship “Grain de Sail II” will leave Saint-Malo to reach New York.
In its holds, several hundred tons of goods entrusted by French companies.
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An environmental approach
To appreciate the loading capacity of "Grain de Sail II", you have to delve into the bowels of this large sailboat helmed in particular by Gilles Lamiré.
"We can take on board up to 350 tonnes. There is a ventilation system which controls the humidity level and the salinity of the air. We will be able, at the end of the crossing, to certify to our researchers that we remained within this humidity and temperature standard,” he explains.
“Transport less and transport better”
Above all, it is a derisory carbon footprint that customers will come here because by transporting wine, electronics, luxury or even pharmaceutical products to the other side of the Atlantic by sail, they are part of a real environmental approach.
“All companies have a social and environmental responsibility but we have to find solutions. And here we have one, that of transporting less and transporting better. We are 95% decarbonized compared to grouping in containers which is 20 grams per tonne per kilometer. We are at two grams per tonne per kilometer", specifies Olivier Barreau, president of Grain de Sail.
The cargo ship will not return empty since it will return to Saint-Malo with the holds filled with cocoa beans loaded in the West Indies for the Morlaix chocolate factory.