New funds for Windcoop

The Windcoop cooperative has also noticed that many ambitious and idealistic projects have to work hard to raise the necessary funds.

Windcoop, based in Lorient, is opening pre-registration for its new funding round. The aim is to raise 1.5 million euros to finance the final investments in the Miaraka, its first sailing container ship, and to prepare for its commissioning. According to the co-operative, this is the final round of funding before the ship’s maiden voyage between Marseille and Madagascar, which is scheduled for the summer of 2027. The co-operative will, however, have to adjust the planned route. The Red Sea is currently not a viable route due to hostilities. Meanwhile, 1,857 members have raised over 7 million. Windcoop is unlikely to meet the launch date in December this year, as can be seen from its own reports.

Last year, the cooperative raised more than 1.4 million euros, which, according to Windcoop, is the highest annual amount ever. A further 1.5 million euros still needs to be raised to finance the final investments relating to the vessel and to prepare for the start of operations in 2027. These funds will be used primarily to oversee the construction, recruit teams and hire containers.

The Miaraka reached a new milestone in early April 2026 with the laying of the keel at the RMK Marine shipyard in Tuzla, Turkey. Construction had commenced in December 2025 with the cutting of the first sheet steel. Construction is expected to take 18 months, with a launch scheduled for December 2026 and delivery in May 2027. The vessel is 91.3 metres long and 17.8 metres wide and will be able to carry 210 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units), with 40 connections for refrigerated containers, amounting to approximately 2,500 tonnes of cargo. It also accommodates up to ten passengers in five double cabins, which are being marketed by the Sailcoop cooperative. The name means ‘together’ in Malagasy.

Propulsion will rely primarily on three automated, rigid sails, developed by CWS in Saint-Nazaire. With a total surface area of 1,050 m², these can be deployed or retracted depending on the wind. In areas with little wind, a hybrid combustion engine takes over. Depending on the routes and seasons, Windcoop estimates that the sails could save up to 60 per cent in fuel compared with a conventional container ship.

The Miaraka will complete the journey from Marseille to Madagascar in 28 to 30 days. Whilst other sailing cargo ships focus on the Atlantic Ocean, this vessel would, according to its initiators, be the first to sail the Indian Ocean. Due to the situation in the Red Sea, the ship will sail round Africa via the Cape of Good Hope rather than through the Suez Canal, until this route is navigable again. Windcoop aims, in the long term, to build a fleet of several sailing cargo ships constructed according to the same design, which could save up to 90 per cent on fossil fuels for propulsion.

Sources: Windcoop,  Interesting Engineering  and  Mer en Marine

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