It’s as if I were talking to a merchant on a European dock more than a century ago when I ask Jorne Langelaan, founder and CEO of Dutch shipping company EcoClipper, how his ship’s maiden voyage is going.
“At first the winds were really favourable,” he says of the progress made by the 1912-built De Tukker, which has recently embarked on a regular sailing program that takes it to ports all over Europe. Chocolate, olive oil and wine are among the first items of charge from him.
En route from the Netherlands to Portugal, like many thousands of sailors in past centuries, De Tukker’s crew had to sail close to Atlantic winds to push south past the west coast of France.
“Otherwise,” Langelaan says, “you can easily be blown into the Bay of Biscay with the currents there and the prevailing winds.” EcoClipper, which has five shore-based staff and five crew members, has raised around €1 million in funding to date, half of which consists of loans.
Decarbonization in sight
Does the future of shipping look confusingly like its past? Maybe. The industry certainly faces a great challenge in going green. Worldwide, Maritime transport represents 3% of greenhouse gas emissions – but that’s more than meets the eye because it’s so hard to decarbonise shipping, as giant commercial ships have long relied on highly polluting bunker fuel.
Until 90% of the goods are transported by ship and demand is increasing, so the potential climate impact of shipping will only grow in the future unless cleaner fuels or zero emission technologies emerge as suitable alternatives.
One obstacle is scale. De Tukker can carry a maximum load of about 80 tons, completely dwarfed by the 200,000 tons or more that the largest container ships can carry. But Langelaan says he has received interest from companies keen to reduce their carbon footprint and take advantage of zero-emission transportation. Multiple construction companies, for example, have been in touch recently, he points out, as some are under pressure to reduce emissions.
Langelaan points out that De Tukker is not only a zero emission boat, it is also extremely quiet, which means there is virtually no risk of noise pollution, which is known to negatively affect marine life. The ship actually has an engine, but its crew barely uses it. She cruises at about half the speed of large modern commercial ships.
In the coming years, Langelaan and his colleagues hope to field an entire fleet of newly built sailing ships based on a design inspired by classic Dutch cargo ships. Clipper ships – among them the famous Cutty Sark – were perfected over many years of maritime development, Langelaan notes.
“We don’t really have the resources to do a lot of research and development, so we just take what works and are using it,” he explains, referring to the EcoClipper 500 prototype ship conceptIt would have a load capacity of 500 tons.
Langelaan already has a Dutch shipyard in mind which he says could build the first of these new vessels, but adds that the project requires investment. Should he arrive, he envisions launching a newly built clipper-style ship starting in 2026.
the candles are back
For Joe Banks, professor of naval science and maritime engineering at the University of Southampton, the EcoClipper approach is certainly exciting. “Those historic ships were beautiful and there’s a nostalgia, a romanticism,” he says.
However, it is the existing giant fleet of huge commercial ships that deserves the most attention, he argues. Shipping companies can reduce their climate impact by adding miniature candles either kites to their ships, allowing them to use the wind. Automation can also help make them as efficient as possible, he adds.
“My gut feeling would be that we are going to have a bigger impact by looking at retrofitting existing ships with modern automated systems,” Banks says.
He and his colleagues at the University of Southampton will embark on a project to test the effect of adding a 20m tall retractable sail to a cargo ship called Pacific Grebe, which has been used for many years to transport nuclear waste.
However, EcoClipper could still play an important role in highlighting the virtues of sailing cargo shipping, Banks argues: “There is (…) a value there to raise awareness and show the benefits of that.”
Langelaan makes another point: One way to reduce emissions is to simply send less and reduce humanity’s impact on the planet as a whole. “I shouldn’t be saying this as a boat owner,” he quips.
For now, De Tukker has a smooth sailing and a busy schedule to meet. Langelaan lists the various places he will be calling in the coming weeks, including the UK, France and the Netherlands. From sailing festivals to hauling construction materials.
“Then start again,” he says, again with the air of a tough old sailor. “The ship will be constantly sailing.”
