Huge Cargo Sailing Ship Completes Voyage Across Atlantic – CleanTechnica

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The Neoliner Origin has been dubbed the world’s largest cargo sailing ship at 136 meters or about 446 feet in length. It recently traveled across the Atlantic Ocean from France to the US, but sustained some damage along the route so it is undergoing repairs while cargo is being offloaded. The main propulsion is supposed to come from two semi-rigid sails, but that wasn’t possible because of the damage sustained so motors were used too. 

Under normal sailing conditions, the motors would be used less in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 80% or more.

The vessel is currently in Baltimore at a port.

“Cargo scheduled to be unloaded in Baltimore included wheeled machinery (like forklifts and cherry pickers) made by Manitou, a boat, and bottles of champagne and cognac.

“The ship will regularly call on Baltimore as part of a roughly 28-day rotation. Neoline had scheduled a celebratory event for its first visit in Baltimore, but postponed it after the sail’s damage slowed its voyage.

“Instead, the company plans a Baltimore inauguration in early December, during its second visit to the city.”

The huge sailing vessel can carry about 5,300 tons of goods. It has a cruising speed of about 11 knots.

Fortunately, there are some backers to support the vessel’s transatlantic commercial voyages.

“Several French luxury brands have gotten behind Neoline’s shipping model. In a partnership with high-end alcohol producer Rémy Cointreau, Neoliner Origin arrived in Baltimore with 11,088 bottles of Rémy Cointreau’s Telmont champagne on board. Telmont is a French champagne house known for its commitment to lowering its environmental footprint. Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio has a stake in Telmont for its dedication to sustainability. The world’s largest luxury goods conglomerate, LVMH, has committed to shipping 4 million bottles of Hennessy per year aboard the sailing cargo vessel.”

Much of the reporting about transportation and shipping focuses on the reduction in carbon emissions because decarbonizing is definitely important and beneficial. There are other problems in addition to carbon. Oil and fuel leaks contaminate both water and land.

“Oil pollution is the best known one which is caused by shipping. Tanker accidents are typically associated with severe environmental damage in marine ecosystems. However, most oil pollution in the seas comes from land effluents and from the washing out of bilges and ballast water drainage at sea by merchant ships. Despite the MARPOL agreement, several hundred thousand tons of oil are released into the oceans each year through ship operations only, as a result of accidents and illegal disposal. In addition to crude oil, chemical pollutants also enter the sea — by way of cargo ship accidents or by emptying the tanks with chemically treated feces.”

Cargo ships that only use huge diesel engines generate far too much toxic air pollution that harms human health.

“Shipping is a significant atmospheric source of particulate matter and gaseous pollutants (SO2, NOx, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), CO2, CO, and hydrocarbons). The particulate matter in ship exhaust emissions contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) generated by incomplete combustion and heavy metal ions such as sulfates. Emissions inhaled by the human body can cause diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, and even cancer. NOx and SOx can physically and chemically react with other components in the atmosphere to form nitrates, sulfates, and O3, forming acid rain to corrode buildings and also to cause irreversible damage to the soil (Popovicheva et al., 2009; Contini and Merico, 2021).”

So, using mostly sails and wind to propel ships across oceans and seas is really helpful for not only reducing carbon emissions but also multiple harmful pollutants. Not long ago, a mostly wind-powered trimaran about 220 feet long also transported cargo across the Atlantic ocean. A year ago, a monohull cargo sailing vessel made a similar journey and transported over 800 pallets of cargo to the US.

The average diesel cargo ship may be over 900 feet long, which is much larger, so such a huge vessel will obviously carry a far larger cargo. If 4-5 smaller sailing cargo ships could be constructed and operated with sound economics, then perhaps there will be more of the smaller ones transporting goods across oceans, thereby reducing carbon and other emissions considerably.

Of course, it may also be possible to build sailing cargo vessels that are about half the size of the massive diesel ships, so maybe two would be needed to replace one. Is it possible to construct a cost-effective cargo ship propelling itself with mostly wind and sails that is 900 feet in length? Time will tell.

Image credit: Neoliner (The photo is the Origin at a port other than in the US.)