Tall ships make a comeback as oil price hits exports French wine merchants expor

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Tall ships make a comeback as oil price hits exports French wine merchants

exporting their goods via sailing

_http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4380921.ece_

(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4380921.ece)

July 23, 2008 Adam Sage

 

The 108-year-old triple masted Kathleen & May is taking wine to Dublin.

 

A British schooner docked in Penzance yesterday carrying 30,000 bottles of

wine on a voyage that enthusiasts believe will herald a return to wind power

in merchant shipping.

 

The first commercial cargo of French wine to be transported by sail in the

modern era is due in Dublin this week after a six-day journey, which is being

touted as a green and ultimately cheap alternative to fuel propulsion.

 

The 108-year-old, wooden, triple-masted Kathleen & May has been chartered by

the Compagnie de Transport Maritime à la Voile (CTMV), a shipping company

established in France to specialise in merchant sailing. “This is beyond

anybody's dreams,†said Steve Clarke, the owner of the Kathleen & May, which

was

built in 1900 in Ferguson and Baird's yard at Connah's Quay near Chester.

 

“When I bought this boat in 1966 it was going to be cut up with chainsaws.

Nobody ever imagined it would ever sail again.†He said that amid high fuel

costs and concern over carbon emissions, commercial sailing ships could have a

future. “I think they might have hit on something.â€

 

Frédéric Albert, a former French radio journalist who founded CTMV this

year, agreed. “We are the only firm in Europe doing this and the level of

interest in our project has far exceeded our expectations,†he told The

Times. “A

lot of big companies have contacted us.â€

 

His initial contract is with 80 vineyard owners from the

Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France to carry their bottles to Ireland

on the tall

ship. CTMV is finalising another deal to bring Irish whiskey and Scotch back to

France by sail, Mr Albert said.

 

The Kathleen & May, which spent most of its working life transporting coal

and clay before being taken out of commercial service in 1960, left Brest in

Brittany last Friday and spent yesterday in Penzance to be inspected by

British customs officers.

 

It travels at a top speed of eight knots, about half as fast as a modern

cargo vessel. Its supporters say that it is pollution-free - unlike almost all

the other 50,000 merchant ships in the world, which emit 800 million tonnes of

carbon dioxide a year.

 

“Originally this was intended as an ecological project enabling producers to

put a label on their goods saying they had been moved by a clean means of

transport,†said Mr Albert.

 

“But it could become economically interesting as well given the high price

of fuel.†He said CTMV had chartered five sailing ships to transport products

such as Fairtrade coffee, jam and alcoholic drinks. “We are 5 per cent more

expensive than standard merchant shipping companies at the moment. But we are

going to build our own ships and when they enter service, we will be

cheaper.â€

His initiative comes with the French Association of Shipowners predicting

that wind-powered vessels could capture 0.5 per cent of the commercial

shipping market, which transports 90 per cent of the world's traded goods.

 

Trouble at sea

 

— The International Maritime Organisation said this year that carbon

pollution from the world's merchant fleet had reached 1.1billion tonnes - three

times greater than previously thought

 

— Nearly 4.5 per cent of all global emissions of carbon dioxide is generated

by merchant ships, and the figure is predicted to rise to 6 per cent by 2020

 

— When Tesco started ferrying wine by barge last year, 50 lorries were taken

off the road each week. Three journeys are made each week along the 40-mile

stretch from Liverpool to Manchester, carrying 600,000 litres of wine on each

trip.

 

Sources:

Times Archive; _www.sail-world.com_ (http://www.sail-world.com/)