Sailing into a Sustainable Future

Captain Jorne Langelaan - founder of EcoClipper.

Our friends EcoClipper have published a report which gives a first overview of the emerging sail cargo and sail passenger sectors – featuring interviews with key players like brokers, ship-owners (including us) and companies looking to reduce their carbon footprints by (re)using sail transport.

EcoClipper was founded in 2018 by Jorne Langelaan, a sail cargo expert and co-founder of shipping company Fairtransport – which built and sailed the Tres Hombres, one of the pioneer sail cargo ships of this modern revival. Now he has assembled a team to develop a whole fleet of engineless sailing ships offering emission-free transport and travel worldwide. EcoClipper ships will sail on three shipping lines with fixed schedules, thereby creating a new shipping logistics system for sail cargo vessels.

The report charts how sail cargo and sail travel have gained momentum over the last ten years, mainly due to the rising awareness of the climate crisis. Published at a time when the Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have inadvertently reduced air pollution and seen people lower their consumption habits, this is a key moment for all us involved in the sail cargo movement.

As Jorne puts it, “We are at a tipping point globally with how we approach our recovery from the shocking effects of the Coronavirus pandemic, and for a more sustainable future we believe sailing ships offer a clean alternative to conventional industries. We are really excited to share this market overview. EcoClipper is part of a large sail cargo community and this document is a useful tool to show how far sail cargo has come, the growing interest in it and where we can go.”

The market overview can be accessed by signing up to the EcoClipper newsletter here: www.ecoclipper.org/newsletter