Can sail freight tackle the large carbon footprint of food transport?

Then Schooner Apollonia resumed her 12-day round trip journey from Hudson, New York, to Highlands, New Jersey, via New York City. With essentially emissions-free travels, the vessel is a prime example of low-carbon transport.

Shipping by sail, known within the industry as “sail freight,” is an emerging niche method aimed at revolutionizing the conventional shipping industry. The boats are powered by wind, tides and sails — rather than the fossil fuels that power commercial cargo boats — leading its adherents to claim that it can dramatically reduce the shipping sector’s carbon footprint.

The climate impacts of cargo ships

Employing sailboats to ship food and goods is not, of course, entirely novel. The practice has been around for about 5,000 years, when the development of sail technology enabled ships to carry more cargo more easily, faster and farther. This pivotal innovation helped develop civilizations around the globe. With the rise of fossil fuels in the mid-19th century, the millennia-old method gradually fell out of favor. Gas, for example, better powered boats, allowing for quicker journeys, greater cargo capacity and more reliable propulsion in difficult wind conditions. Over the past 30 years, the shipping industry has been driven to optimize vessels, leading to economies of scale and larger ships, some carrying up to 20,000 containers. The results are staggering: Most conventional container ships are powered by Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO), essentially the sludge that remains after crude oil is refined. When burned, HFO produces dangerously high levels of emissions of greenhouse gases and toxins like sulfur dioxide, and when ships dump their spent fuel into the ocean, the HFO can spread for miles, killing and endangering marine wildlife and diminishing water quality.

Sail freight aims to be a sustainable counterargument to bulk maritime shipping, creating a chance for certain types of cargo, like shelf-stable foods and food-adjacent and agricultural products that don’t require refrigeration, to be transported in a way that does not rely on fossil fuels in the same fashion. According to Pierre Maruzzi, export director for French shipping company Grain de Sail (GDS), the journeys are faster — one modern sailboat can cross the Atlantic in 22 days from warehouse to warehouse as opposed to 80 days for conventional container ships — with quicker loading and unloading times because of the ability to dock at smaller ports that offer more flexibility and fewer delays. Advances in routing and weather forecasting have also made sailing more effective.

Not so chill: The challenges of refrigeration

Since sail freight is defined as a low-carbon method of transport, it has been a natural fit for ferrying grain and other foods and goods that don’t require refrigeration  —  no use of chemicals or energy needed. “Early shipping was only intended for dry cargo … with no particular temperature requirements,” writes Nicola Twilley in “Frostbite,” her book about the effects of refrigeration on people and the planet. That changed in 1901, when refrigerated holds designed for bananas were put into use. Refrigeration’s many obvious benefits aside, it comes with an environmental cost: Energy use and refrigerant leaks are responsible for 2-4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Interestingly, though companies are designing larger, more modern vessels and employing advanced sail technology, these boats do not feature refrigeration. Anémos, the world’s largest wind-powered cargo ship, was launched in August by French company TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT). It offers 1,000 tons of shipment space and uses a ventilation system and the temperature of the seawater to keep cargo at its necessary temperatures. TOWT does not plan to use refrigeration on its ships because it is not environmentally friendly (it also offers a label certifying a product’s clean transport).

Propelled by the urgency to fight climate change

The race is on to combat climate change. With the global economy’s dependence on shipping, low-carbon transport is a tangible option for changing practices. And it carries potential long-term impact.

“The idea for me,” says Sam Merrett, Apollonia’s co-founder, co-owner, and captain, “was, ‘is there a way to move stuff that is not just a compromise, not the lesser of two evils.’” He’s also worked with alternative fuels and feels that sailing offers substantive benefits for the future.

Since 2020, Apollonia has completed 20 voyages using wind power and tides to transport more than 200,000 pounds of freight — including cheese, hot sauce, honey, dried beans, plus barrels for distilleries — to 25 ports. Last-mile transport is often by bicycle and trailer.

Even though sail cargo currently accounts for less than 1 percent of global cargo transport, it offers opportunity for significant change. Figures vary: According to the International Maritime Organization, which has pledged to reduce emissions to net-zero by 2050, zero-carbon sail technology has the potential to reduce up to 10 percent of greenhouse gases depending on factors such as ship size. The International Transport Forum estimates up to 60 percent reduction (p. 37) using wind-propulsion technology effectively, relative to variables like operating speed.

Industry and governmental developments are helping to make zero-emission shipping “promising,” says Robert Khachatryan, CEO of Freight Right Logistics, an international freight logistics company. Maersk, the second largest ocean carrier worldwide, is investing in new sail technology. In line with the Paris Accords, an international treaty to mitigate climate change, the European Union has been spearheading requirements to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. The European Investment Bank requires a carbon footprint-offsetting plan to obtain funding; any project it finances must meet its environmental and social principles and standards. (U.S.-regulated banks do not have similar mandates.)

Many of Khachatryan’s customers want to be carbon neutral. And they’re asking carriers to be carbon neutral, too. Since buying carbon credits to offset their footprint does not contribute to a company’s bottom line, Khachatryan believes that will drive investment into sail freight. “These are obviously global conglomerates with massive infrastructure, massive amount of assets. It’s definitely an uphill battle there,” says Khachatryan — but it’s one he finds exciting.