Anemos, the first French cargo sailboat, designed by Towt, made its first entry into its home port of Le Havre on Tuesday. At the end of the week, she will set sail for New York for her first delivery, almost entirely powered by sail.
Thirteen years after the project was launched by Le Havre-based TransOceanic Wind Transport (Towt), the first sailing cargo ship made its debut in the Cité océane on Tuesday August 6. Anemos, the sailing cargo ship, will now be loaded before setting off at the end of the week for its first transatlantic delivery to New York.
Behind the lens of amateur photographers who had come to the dykes of the port of Le Havre for the occasion, Anemos arrived at around 8 o’clock on Tuesday morning. “It’s beautiful, it’s the future of maritime transport“, comments Didier”, his camera aimed at his nose. The ship then passed through the François 1er lock before docking on the Quai Dresser in Le Havre’s Grand Canal.
At 81 meters long and 15 meters wide, it’s her height that’s most impressive. She’s a schooner with two 55-metre masts,” explains Guillaume Le Grand, president and co-founder of Towt. She climbs to an air draught of 63 metres, so she couldn’t pass under the Pont de Normandie!
But it’s offshore that she impresses most “with her 3,000 square meters of sails”, continues the shipowner. “She’s a jewel of technology, propelled more than 90% of the time by the wind”, which reduces her CO2 emissions.
1,100 tonnes of cargo
At the end of the week, she will make her first transatlantic delivery to New York. The crossing will take around 12 days, with 1,100 tonnes of goods on board: champagne, cosmetics and jams. At the end of August, she will set sail again from the United States for a stopover in Colombia, before leaving again with her holds full of coffee to return to Le Havre.
Source: France Bleue
