Sail cargo between Saint-Malo and Papeete

Perhaps we will see the Pahi Fano in the port of Papeete in 2027. Eco Trans Océan, based in Saint-Malo, aims to transport cargo and passengers between the Brittany and Tahiti in a low-carbon way.

From Saint-Malo to Papeete, about 17,200 kilometres of sailing, to carry 1,600 tonnes of cargo and six or eight passengers. That is the project of Ambroise Seiffert and Richard Boutet, captain and first mate. Two Bretons with a passion for the sea. They have the somewhat crazy idea of offering carbon-free maritime cargo transport, with a rather special boat. The Pahi Fano will have a hybrid engine with three motors – hydrogen, electricity or biofuel, the choice is not yet made – supported by particularly powerful sails. So efficient, in fact, that the founders hope to reverse the situation and switch from main propulsion to engine-driven sails.

Ocean Wings

DePahi Fano will be equipped with Oceanwings: “They are made on the principle of an aircraft wing. Only aircraft wings are horizontal, while Oceanwings are vertical. And it works the same way, but they are almost twice as efficient as conventional sails with the same surface area. Z “, explains Ambroise Seiffert.
The sails remain made of textile, with a reinforced frame. They were designed by naval architect VPLP, who also already designed the very similar – but much more imposing – Canopée, a sailing freighter that has been transporting components for the Ariane 6 rocket between Europe and French Guiana since 2023.

Router

The idea is also to sail intelligently, i.e. using depressions, currents and optimising the course. And Ambroise Seiffert knows this is possible, because during the Covid crisis he sailed from Indonesia to French Polynesia in a boat with a conventional engine, with only one goal: to use as little petrol as possible, because refuelling was complicated. “We realised that by choosing our route carefully, by playing with the weather … There are ways to do things that allow us to use less petrol, and in the end it was possible because we saved 30% fuel, even though we had to contend with the wind and currents.”

Six weeks there and six back

So they set off from Saint-Malo, where their shipping company Eco Trans Océan is currently based, towards Papeete, via Pointe-à-Pitre and the Panama Canal. And, of course, back again. According to the founders’ calculations, both the outward and return trips take six weeks, while container ships take about four weeks on the outward trip and seven to eight weeks on the return trip. There is a reason for this difference: “We have a very short time difference, for one simple reason: we are on a direct, or almost direct, route, so we don’t make 3, 4, 5 or 8 stopovers. We don’t go to ports where there is a lot of traffic. We have a better chance to arrive and leave fairly quickly, and to have fairly short stopovers. And also to have handling slots that are more accessible than in a port like Le Havre, where it is really non-stop but where everything ends up taking time because there are big ships and a lot of goods to unload and load.”

More expensive but more stable prices

The cost of the Pahi Fano is estimated at €32 million. The company believes in the profitability of the project, especially betting on the rising tax on thermal energy (fossil fuels), as opposed to green energy: “A transport like ours might be a bit more expensive, but in the end the prices will also be much more stable because there is no adjustment factor regarding the fuels used on the ships. The higher the energy price, the higher the transport price. There will also be new taxes in all directions, so the less carbon we consume, the greener we will be and the less taxes we will have to pay.”
Eco Trans Océan says it has letters of intent that will allow it to fill 40% of its cargo capacity on the route between Brittany and Polynesia. The future shipping company wants to reach the 50% break-even point and formalise these commitments to secure long-term contracts.

Building in 2026

For now, Pahi Fano remains a project. According to the timetable, the tender will take place this year and the boat will be built in 2026.
“The search for funding takes time because it requires significant resources,” explains Ambroise Seiffert. Choosing Polynesia as the final destination may not make things easier, but as a sailor who spent a year in Tahiti, he has an idea of the potential of this “gateway to the Pacific” and wanted to bring Bretons and Tahitians closer together, two peoples who have a strong connection with the sea.
Eco Trans Océan hopes to set up a local branch in Polynesia to attract Polynesian sailors; the ship needs 10 crew members to sail. And, why not, also attract scientists or artists who could make the trip: “By sea it’s a bit longer, but it’s a great source of inspiration.”

Sources: EcoTransOcean, Outremers360; and Radio1.fr.
Image: EcoTransOcean.

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