ARTE documentary on sailing cargo
On 22 March, at 8am, German/French TV channel ARTE will broadcast a 53-minute documentary on how sailing cargo is conquering the world’s oceans.
ARTE announces the documentary as follows:
Shipping is facing a radical turnaround: by 2050 it must be climate-neutral. The solution? Modern cargo ships using high-tech from sailing races at sea and digital weather routing to harness the power of the wind. Ships like the Anemos or Grain de Sail prove that emission-free transport is possible – and that the future belongs to the wind.
The shipping industry is under pressure: it accounts for about three per cent of global carbon emissions and must be climate-neutral by 2050. To achieve this goal, wind power comes into the picture. A remarkable experiment is currently under way on the world’s oceans: it involves the best possible use of wind energy. Largely unnoticed by the global public, the first modern cargo ship with sails was launched in France in 2020 – successfully.
2024 was the year of modern cargo sailing: the 81-metre-long “Anemos” – currently the world’s largest sail-powered cargo ship – was launched in France. The island freighter “Juren AE” for the Marshall Islands, developed by the Emden/Leer University of Applied Sciences, also provides proof of emission-free shipping.
Technically, these ships are based on the high-tech racing yachts of sailing professionals such as Isabelle Joschke and Boris Herrmann. Carbon masts, optimised hulls and digital weather routing enable fast, safe and efficient journeys. The resulting innovations are groundbreaking – just like in the car industry, where racing technologies are being applied in series vehicles. Cargo ships, meanwhile, are demonstrating on the high seas: there is no alternative to wind if shipping is to become climate-neutral.
Source: ARTE tv.
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