Grain de Sail, a French company that imports chocolate and coffee from the Americas, announced on October 24, 2024, the construction of its third sail-powered cargo ship, which will be named Grain de Sail III and is set to begin operations in the Atlantic in 2027. The ship will be a 110-meter-long container vessel, the largest of its kind in the world, with a capacity of 200 TEU and 3,000 tons. It will be powered by 4,000 square meters of sails distributed across three masts.
Its dimensions, including a draft height of 62.5 meters, will allow the sail-powered container ship to pass under major maritime bridges, such as the Verrazzano, and through the Panama Canal. The ship will also be equipped with retractable keels to ensure good upwind performance while maintaining a limited draft during docking.
Grain de Sail aims to design an almost passive vessel, thanks to heavy insulation and the use of hydrogenation technologies developed to ensure autonomous and decarbonized energy production on board. Like its predecessor, Grain de Sail II, this new vessel will also be equipped with a wood pellet boiler to provide heating and hot water, ensuring the comfort of the ten crew members.
Compared to a traditional vessel, Grain de Sail III will be able to reduce carbon emissions by up to 90%. "To make sail transport accessible, we need to change the scale, and that's exactly what we're about to do with a pure sail container ship," explained Oliver Barreau, co-founder and president of Grain de Sail. "With Grain de Sail III, we are showing our ambitions and strengthening our leadership in the decarbonized maritime transport sector." The vessel will be registered under the French International Register.
