Good News: A Wind Power Freighter Could Launch In 2027

This is revolutionary, people!

From the link

A 100% wind-powered cargo ship that can dramatically cut transatlantic shipping times and carbon emissions, according to its operator, could launch in early 2027.

French company Vela will run a service between France and the US with its custom-made seacraft. The 220-foot (67-meter) long, 82-foot (25-meter) wide vessel will be able to transport just over 400 metric tons of cargo, and was designed with the input of Vela cofounder François Gabart, a professional yacht racer and the fastest sailor to circumnavigate the globe solo.

The trimaran, with two smaller hulls on either side of a central hull, will be propelled by sails extending 200 feet (61 meters) above the waterline, with onboard power for living and working quarters, plus temperature-controlled cargo holds, provided by solar panels and two hydro generators. Vela says it will travel at an average speed of 14 knots — equivalent to the speed of a modern container ship — between New Jersey and Normandy or Bordeaux, France.

Um, OK? Spanish galleons were capable of carrying 500 to 1,200 tons of cargo back in 1600s and 1700s. Nice to see that the climate cult has made progress.

The vessel can hold approximately five times the capacity of a cargo plane, says the company. Vela positions its services somewhere between conventional sea and air freight: quicker than sea freight, slower than air freight, and with much lower emissions than either.

Maybe, but planes can make it across the Atlantic in what, 7 hours or so? Not the 3-5 days it will take a cargo boat. Depending upon wind. Storms.

The vessel carries around 100 times less than a conventional container ship, meaning loading and unloading times are shorter, he added, and its size means it can enter secondary port terminals that have less congestion and quicker docking times.

Progress!

Vela is not the only French company launching purely wind-powered freight. Grand de Sail Logistics is offering 18-day port-to-port services between Saint-Malo, Brittany and New York on its cargo sailboat, which has a 50-ton capacity. And in the UK, Shipped by Sail operates as a broker for the transportation of low-volume, ethically produced goods, like Colombian coffee and Portuguese olive oil.

They should have these for passengers. Anyone professing membership in the cult should be required to take these instead of fossil fueled fligths.