This week, Insider reported that quite a few companies are putting a halt to the use of expensive cargo vessels that depend on fossil fuels and are switching back to old sailing ships.
Russia’s continuous invasion of Ukraine has dramatically increased natural gas and oil prices, and commodities analysis firm S&P Global Platts Analytics recently estimated that maritime shipping is responsible for a full 2 to 3 percent of the world’s C02 emissions.
“We used to pay between seven to 10 cents to ship a pound of coffee on a container bunker-fuel cargo ship,” Serge Picard, owner of fair-trade-coffee company Café William, told the pub. “Then, all of a sudden, the world goes completely berserk and the price of shipping by container quintupled for a good period. It’s slowly coming back down, but it’s actually more expensive and takes more time to ship by container ship.”
Café William is partnering with a company called SailCargo to deliver its product. SailCargo has commissioned two eco-friendly ships which are aligned with today’s modern technology.
The second ship is called Ceiba, which has three sails along with an electric engine. Ceiba’s engine can be charged with solar panels or with energy created by the ship’s propellor during its travels. It can transport up to 250 tons of product!
