What if we went back to sailboats to transport our goods? That is the bet of Towt, specialist in maritime transport. Thanks to an old schooner, a kind of sailboat, it crossed the Atlantic to bring twenty tons of Colombian coffee to Bordeaux. It would be the largest cargo a sailboat has carried in modern history. A mode of transport that offers a solution for the future to significantly reduce the CO2 footprint.
The sailing boat “Avontuur” moored on Monday 7 February at quay no. 431 of the port of Bassens, in the agglomeration of Bordeaux (Gironde). The schooner left Colombia in mid-December 2021 and sailed for nearly two months into the Atlantic, the holds filled with products such as coffee, rum and cocoa, reports South West† She stopped in Bordeaux to supply nearly 22 tons of coffee to the Belco company, which specializes in researching and distributing green coffee to independent roasters. This is a record load for this type of sailboat, indicates: South West†
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Decarbonising freight transport
The Belco company, based in Mérignac, has chosen to import its coffee by sailboat in order to reduce the environmental footprint of transporting this raw material, whose cultivation is often chosen for its environmental impact. The importer has set itself an ambitious goal: to be able to transport more than 50% of the coffee by sailboat by 2025. This mode of transport costs 3 to 4 times more than conventional cargo, the company said. For consumers, this translates into a price increase of about 10 cents for a 250-gram pack of roasted coffee, Franceinfo says.
“I see a significant impact for an entire sector. And that’s not just sailing, but an entire policy that we have, especially on-site support for producers to limit water consumption.“, told South West Alexandre Bellange, CEO. from Belco.
A “charge of the future” by 2023
To achieve its objectives, Belco called on Towt, a specialist in maritime transport by sail. His project is to float a “cargo of the future” by 2023. This modern ship could hold 1,000 tons of cargo and would save nearly 5,000 tons of CO2 per year and per ship. , reports Francinfo.
In addition to reducing the carbon footprint, this mode of transport would also be beneficial for coffee. According to Belco, “Coffee suffers less from condensation in holds than in regular containers”quoted South West†
Eof the traditional gas-powered freighters, sailboats are returning to provide a more sustainable future for maritime transport.