Wind-powered tall ships are once again gaining in importance as oil prices hurt trade and shipping
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
The first commercial cargo of French wine to be transported by sailboat in the modern era arrived in Dublin recently after a six-day trip. The 108 year-old boat, chartered by French shipping company Compagnie de Transport Maritime a la Voile (CMTV), was carrying 30,000 bottles of wine.
Though the ship travels at a top speed of eight knots half the speed of a modern cargo vessel it is completely pollution-free. The 50,000 other merchant ships traveling the world emit 800 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.
The Kathleen & May spent most of its life transporting coal and clay. It was taken out of commercial service in 1960. Now its once again hard at work, as CMTV has contracted for 80 vineyard owners from southern France to carry their wine bottles to Ireland on the ship. The company is also working on another deal to bring Irish whiskey and scotch to France using the boat, and it eventually plans on building its own tall ships for transport.
CMTV may be on to something; according to the French Association of Shipowners, wind-powered boats could capture .5% of the commercial shipping market. This may not sound like muchuntil you consider that 90% of the worlds traded goods are transported via boat.
Tall ships may move a bit slower than fossil-fuel powered ships, but their minimal environmental impact could make them sea trades best hope for the future.
In addition to this it would also bring back some good old trades and some good old products, such as proper sails and boat building.
There are some that are playing around with powering ships with some sort of wind-turbines and such like but I ask: “what for?” The old technology of sail and ship is as good if not better and it is a time-honored and time-proven technology. There are no trials to be run and no pitfalls. When we remember the speed that ships like the “Cutty Sark” had with full holds of wool from Australia to Britain then the windjammers sure can have a future, yet, again.
So, let's hear it for the tall ships and for freight carried the old-fashioned way.
Maybe cargo containers don't fit onto tall ships but, well, maybe we could also look at actually making things close to home again. Then again, with a little thinking maybe those boxes will fit.
© M Smith (Veshengro), August 2008
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