CARGO SAILING SHIPS; BECOMING SERIOUS BUSINESS?

Driven by ethical entrepreneurs, sailing vessels provide fully sustainable maritime transport services, for specific niche markets where a substantial premium for environmental friendliness is paid.

These include chocolate (fair trade, biological and fully sustainable), olive oil and coffee. The ‘inland leg’ is in most cases also fully sustainable – an Antwerp chocolate maker got its cacao beans delivered for free from Amsterdam by a group of volunteering bikers…. these initiatives are well received but also easily viewed as a ‘gimmick’ at the periphery of maritime transport.

Well, two news items in the past two months suggests that cargo sailing ships may make more inroads in maritime transport. First, the French Manitou group, specialising in aerial work platforms and earthmoving, has formalised its partnership with Neoline, a new venture set to operate sailing ro-ro cargo ships. They intend to use Neoline’s ships for their exports to North America.

Second, a Swedish venture (Wallenius Marine and two research institutes), announced a concept design for a sailing car and truck carrier, with a capacity to carry 7,000 cars, called Oceanbird. Primarily powered by the wind the vessel will have an estimated speed of 10 knots permitting it to cross the Atlantic in approximately 12 days, or 50 percent longer than today’s crossing.

These two initiatives have two things in common: the use of advanced technology in the ships and the much larger scale compared to the cargo sailing ships currently in operation. While it remains to be seen whether these ships can be successfully implemented commercially, at first sight, the odds look good. The attention for environmental footprint is still getting stronger, with regulations (like IMO 2020) driving up costs of engine powered ships and affluent consumers, as well as governments, willing to pay a premium for environmentally friendly maritime transport.

I can imagine prospective buyers of an electric car will value that the car is delivered with a sailing cargo vessel (which in my view looks spectacular….). Obviously, it is not to say it will be plain sailing all the way, but these initiatives suggest use of wind may also succeed in other segments of maritime transport; and port planners may want to keep an eye on further developers in the years to come