By akademiotoelektronik, 18/01/2023

Transport: the construction of a large modern sailboat launched by the Bretons de la Towt

Change change for the Transocéanic Wind Transport (Towt).Launched in2011 in Douarnenez (Finistère) by Guillaume Le Grand and Diana Mesa, the company is betting on rehabilitating sailing for the transport of goods.And this in the era of the container pods, the largest of which are 400 meters and embark on a trip more than20.000 containers… but which mostly fuel with heavy fuel oil, a fossil fuel, so that international maritime transport2 to 3 % of global greenhouse gas emissions and contributes, in a significant way, to atmospheric pollution.

For its part, the Towt uses the wind and the old rigs that Guillaume le Grand and Diana Mesa affect for the occasion.In ten years, the Bretons account for almost2.000 tonnes of goods conveyed by the seas.

Old rigges that made it possible to feel the ground

In the holds, there are sometimes coffee and cocoa from Mexico, Marie Galante rum, Madeira or Bordeaux wines, Portugal olive oil, green tea from Azores, Cornwall beer.The Towt carries these goods on both sides of the Atlantic, the Channel and the North Sea on behalf of brands concerned with reducing the carbon impact of the products they import, and which then value this approachBy affixing the Anemos label on their products.

"These old rigs are perhaps anachronisms," concedes Guillaume le Grande.But they have the interest of existing and allowing to transport, for the most capacitarian, up to 120 tonnes of goods decarbonized."They also allowed the Towt to feel the appetite of brands and the public vis-à-vis sail.

Un voilier-cargo dernier cri pour2023

Finistère company is now speeding up.Since2017, she was thinking of having a first modern sailboat, taking advantage of the latest navigation technologies.This Wednesday, she announced to entrust her construction to the Piriou shipyard, based in Concarneau (always finistère), and presented the contours of this future ship, whose delivery is scheduled for the second semester2023.

The 81 -meter long goélette can transport up to 1.100 tonnes of goods.This remains a drop of water compared to container ships.But for the Finistère company, the change of scale is drastic since in two trips with this new ship, it should transport as much goods as it has done since2011."We needed a ship neither too big nor too small to meet the needs of industrial chargers [customers], without being too expensive and therefore risky to build," explains Guillaume le Grand.

Another detail that counts: speed.2.500 m² of sails surface will advance the ship.They will be spread over two masts."We were initially leaving for three masts before realizing that the third increased the cost of the ship for a limited" push "gain, explains Stéphane Burgaud, director of sales of Piriou. Sa vitesse moyenne avoisinera 10,5 nœuds [environ20 km/h], « ce qui lui permettra de passer du Havre, où la Towt a désormais ses principaux quartiers, à New York en treize jours et du Havre à la Colombie en quinze jours»», détaille Guillaume Le Grand.The Towt would then not be very far from the cruising pace of container ships, especially since they tend to reduce their speed (and are encouraged to do so), both to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions asTo save an increasingly expensive fuel.

America, South Africa ... but also Shanghai

Otherwise, Guillaume le Grand describes his future admiral boat as "smart", "full of innovations and combining technologies of offshore racing, pleasure, professional fishing" "It will be possible, for example, to master theair quality of the holds to ensure the best conditions for the transport of goods, he details.Navigation will also be based on a semi-automated rigging system, so that a crew of seven sailors will suffice to operate the ship.»»

The schooner will also have a hydrogeneration system, which will make it possible to use the energy of the wake [the trace that a boat leaves behind on the surface of the water] to produce part of the electricity usedOn board, from the rotation of the drunk motor propellers.Because yes, this cable sailboat will have two small diesel engines."They will be used for maneuvers and port approaches for security reasons," explains Guillaume le Grand.But in 95 % of the time, it is the sails that will do the work.»»

20.000 tonnes of goods transported per year

This Valo-Cargo sailboat will reduce CO2 emissions linked to the maritime transport of goods compared to the classic container carrier, assures the Towt by more than 90 %, assures the Towt. Soit d’économiser20 g de CO2 par tonne transportée et par kilomètre, dit-elle encore.

The ship is designed to spend 320 days at sea per year.The Towt plans to make him make three connections to North America, three to Central America and three others to South Africa. « Plus un voyage jusqu’à Shanghai, en 55 jours, pour le compte d’une maison de Cognac à l’aller et d’une grande marque de textile française au retour»», glisse Guillaume Le Grand. Via ces vingt traversées, la Towt prévoit de transporter20.000 tonnes of goods each year, and to save 3.000 tonnes of CO2.

Just a start?

Just a start?Not far, Guillaume le Grand and Diana Mesa evoked the construction not of a modern sailboat-cargo, but four."This is always our goal," launches the co -founder of the Towt.We have commercial proposals that offer sufficient flows and frequencies to operate four ships.And operating in "fleet" would precisely allow you to better meet this need for frequency that some of our customers have.»»

The Towt is not the only one to bet on a return to the wind from the transport of goods to sail.In France, the Morlaisians (Finistère, decidedly) of Grain de Sail and the Nantes de Neoline are also on the spot, to name a few.The former have already put in the water a modern sailboat-cargo and completed two transatlantics last year (a third is underway).The ship is of smaller capacity (50 tonnes) and is used in particular to seek tons of cocoa in Central America, which grain of Sail then brings back to Brittany to transform it into tablets.

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