If he had continued to work on fuel-powered cargo ships, Yann Jourdan reckons he would be earning perhaps four times what he is now earning as the captain of the sailing yacht he uses instead. clean wind energy for transporting goods across the Atlantic.
But the hit to Jourdan’s salary brings him peace. When his three-year-old son Marcel grows up, the burly French sailor wants to be able to explain what he did to make his mark in the maritime industry huge carbon footprint.
An international merchant fleet of more than 100,000 ships carries out transportation more than 80% of global trade. But it is also responsible for about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Beige fast switching from dirty fuels to cleaner energies, pollution is predicted to rise.
Mariners who advocate for wind power say investors have looked at them as a joke. But how they pioneer return for sailing cargo ships, they have the last laugh.
“Our job is to prove it’s possible,” Jourdan said aboard the new cargo ship Grain de Sail II as it set sail from the French port of Saint-Malo on a recent fall day.
“It just makes sense to me, you know?” he said. “Just like gasoline is in limited supply and wind is not.”
Modern technology fills sailboats
The cleanest of the new vessels leading the embryonic wind revival are vessels with near-clean sails like the Grain de Sail II. Half the length of a football pitch and capable of carrying 350 tonnes of goods in its holds, it uses its diesel engine only to maneuver in and out of port.
“We don’t just want to reduce the carbon footprint, we want to destroy it,” said Jacques Barreau, co-founder of Grain de Sail with his twin brother Olivier. They used the profits from their chocolate-making and coffee-roasting business in western France to finance their first sailing cargo ship, the Grain de Sail I.
With its aluminum hull, two gigantic carbon fiber masts, mechanized furling and furling systems and its bridge studded with high-tech navigation equipment, Grain de Sail II is supercharged modern successor to sailing clippers from the past.
The fastest of his four previous crossings to New York lasted 17 days, and only 15 days on the way back to Saint-Malo.
“It’s a completely different way of sailing,” Barreau said. He foresees a future with “thousands of sailing cargo (vessels) like this one and even bigger versions.”
Wind power even for giant carriers
Fuel-saving wind-assisted systems are also being installed on motor-powered cargo ships, up to a massive 340 meters (1,115 feet). Sea Zhoushan.
It carries iron ore and was built in China with five large rotating rotors on deck that harness wind energy. When the ship entered service in 2021, the Brazilian mining giant Valley said it expects fuel savings of up to 8% on its 40-day trips between Brazil and China.
Finnish Nordic power, rotor manufacturersays it has installed them on 16 boats since outfitting its first in 2014 and has installations ordered for another 13 vessels.
Although wind-powered vessels are only a small part of the global fleet, their numbers are growing at an unprecedented rate, according to Clarksons Research, which tracks shipping data. According to his data, 165 cargo ships already use wind to some extent or are due to have wind-assisted systems installed.
IN European Unionlarger cargo ships must start paying for part of their emissions from 2025 and comply new EU regulations which aims to promote low-carbon fuels.
Such a pressure could increase the attraction of the wind.
“Ultimately, wind-assisted propulsion will help the global transition for even the largest segments of the cargo transportation sector,” said Bryan Comer, who leads shipping decarbonization efforts at the nonprofit International Clean Transportation Council.
“We know it works, right? Delivery it was originally powered entirely by wind.”
What happens when the wind doesn’t blow?
But the wind — unlike the engine — cannot be turned on at the push of a button.
French shipping company Neoline is open about the fact that when its new 136-meter (446-foot) ship begins sailing in 2025, it will use its diesel engine when winds alone cannot meet the target of 13 sailing days between the French port of Saint-Nazaire and Baltimore on the east coast of the USA.
“We strive for accuracy,” says Neoline’s president, Jean Zanuttini. “It wasn’t speed that killed working sailing in the early 20th century, it was lack of accuracy.”
“We accept and acknowledge the fact that about 30% of our energy will come from the diesel system,” he said.
However, the other 70% of Neoliner’s new type of giant sails — is made from fiberglass panels, not canvas — is expected to reduce fuel consumption and be another step forward for wind.
“We will learn and we will improve,” Zanuttini said. “And tomorrow we will build ships that are bigger, that are more specialized for certain goods and more efficient at all levels.”
Grain de Sail III already on the drawing board
Following the commercial launch of Grain de Sail I in 2020 and Grain de Sail II this March, the Barreau twins are working on financing a third vessel, A grain of salt III. It will double the length of its predecessor and carry eight times more cargo, reducing costs. Grain de Sail hopes to have it in service by 2027.
But he says his basic philosophy will remain unchanged: the larger ship will also use only wind power, except for maneuvering in ports. That rigor reduces the vessel’s carbon footprint to just a fraction of the emissions from fuel vessels, the company says.
With a large gold ring in his left ear and a bushy beard, Jourdan has the air of a pirate as he scrutinizes the rigging of the Grain de Sail II and pulls on the ropes to check their tension in the wind.
He swears there will be no return to fuel carriers for him.
“It’s a dirty job for me now,” he said. “I just want to do something I’m proud of.”
