Bad news. Very bad news. In 2024, it was said that construction of the «Ceiba» would not continue. This struck a blow to the heart of the cargo sailing community. Anyone who has not worked at the «Green Shipyard» in the jungle of Costa Rica for some time knows at least persons who have been there, knows the stories, and has followed the progress of the project on the Internet. There was no sailing magazine or maritime newsletter or Media up to BBC that did not report on the «largest wooden cargo ship» (Strauch 2023). Indirectly, the positive energy with which the vision of sustainability beyond empty PR promises was pursued in the tropical heat under modest conditions reached us all. The Ceiba had become the lighthouse of the movement in the media and in our minds. And now this: only outdated entries on the website, no response to emails, and the charismatic cofounder Danielle Dogget had left the project. A fire destroyed not the Ceiba, but the shipyard. Even when I for investigation purposes asked for email addresses or phone numbers in the cargo sailing scene, I was told that former protagonists of the project were probably no longer willing to talk about the project out of disappointment.
Good News
«Yes, absolutely,» Lynx Guimond replies to my question about whether Sailcargo Inc. still exists. «Completely wrong», he says about the supposed end of the project when I finally got his phone number and so firsthand information. «Anyone requesting audience with us personally is always attended to. I am saddened and feel our continuous efforts are undermined when I hear rumors like ‹the ship is abandoned, dead in the water, left unprotected› etc etc. It's going ahead! We're working on a new business plan, which we'll publish in a few weeks to find more investors.»
Thats good news.
The fire destroyed the tool shed with all of the machinery, hand tools, power tools – a big loss. The ship was unaffected by the fire. «She has had continuous and regular maintenance and has remained under cover from the elements, weekly inspections and regular coats of oil over the entire structure» reports Lynx. «She is in extremely good condition thanks to the volunteer efforts of remaining founders, and has never once been unprotected.» About the future he says: «A small crew is preparing to resume work on the ship. As soon as the money is there, we'll get started.»
More than just shipbuilding
The most fascinating project in the cargo sailing scene is the improvised shipyard in the jungle on Costa Rica's Pacific coast. There, Captain Danielle Doggett and wood sculptor Lynx Guimond, together with John Porras, founded the «Astillero Verde» (the «Green Shipyard») for the construction of the sailing cargo ship «Ceiba». Danielle had started sailing at a young age and discovered cargo sailing in 2010 when she boarded the Tres Hombres in the Dominican Republic: "On my second day in the Dominican Republic, we loaded 18,000 bottles of rum and sailed back to Europe. I worked for this company for almost three years. Between long sailing trips, working in the office, and attending school, this company really nurtured my passion for sailing and gave it meaning and direction" (Adams, 2020). It was there that she also met her partner Lynx, the creator of many figureheads on traditional Dutch ships. In Holland, Danielle founded a rigging company, a firm for rigging traditional sailing ships. And later, with Lynx, she founded the shipping company Sailcargo Inc. – she as managing director, he as technical director.
According to the original project, the threemasted Ceiba will transport 250 tons of cargo on the American west coast between South America and Canada in the future. With a length overall of 38 meters and a width of 8 meters, she will carry up to 580 square meters of sail. The plan is to generate electricity for the auxiliary electric motor with controllable pitch propellers on board, which are driven by the current around the hull when the ship is sailing purely on wind power. This combines modern technology with traditional sailing knowledge.
A reforestation program is replacing the timber needed for construction from the tropical forests of Costa Rica. For every tree felled for the Ceiba, 25 new ones were planted. One in ten of the new trees will later be used for shipbuilding. And wherever possible, the builders of the Ceiba are using wood from trees that have been uprooted by tropical storms or fallen during landslides.
Parallel to the construction of the large ship, wooden boats were built with local fishermen for their use. This is intended to make them independent of the polyester boat industry by allowing them to build their own boats. Local workers are also being trained in the construction of the Ceiba. Some women from the region who initially found jobs in the kitchen have decided to pursue carpentry apprenticeships instead. An organic garden provides food for self-sufficiency. In addition to volunteers and experts from around the world, people in a economicaly weak region in the global south have found work.
Alternative culture
«Anyone going to Astillero Verde should carry a chainsaw in their right hand and a flower in their left,» said Jan Joswig, a volunteer from Germany, describing the shipyard in the jungle. "This is hippie land, but with the business plan of a modern start-up. Located at a dead end directly on Nicoya Bay, 70 kilometers from the tourist hotspot of Monteverde, the shipyard lies among the mangroves like an offshoot of the protest camp in the Hambach Forest: tree houses (with trampolines), corrugated iron barracks, round tents, compost toilets, and herb gardens." (Joswig, 2022) This corporate culture is part of the message under the motto: This is what a future could look like in which motivation to work springs from the joy of the project.
According to US biologist Emily Hollenbeck, the company premises described by Jan Joswig are part of the ecological concept: "Dozens of beautiful tropical bird species are at home at the shipyard; chatty wrens nest in the cashew tree, bright turquoise-browed motmots keep you company in the treehouse office, and bright pink roseate spoonbills fish at the water's edge. The mangroves lining the shore are an important, endangered habitat, and the fact that the shipyard preserves its mangroves makes it a place of great ecological value." Criticism of climate inaction In a later interview, Danielle elaborated on this philosophy, looking back on her trip to the UN Climate Change Conference COP 26 in Glasgow: «Something that struck me was how dependent people are on governments and legislation. Most allow themselves to feel paralyzed because policy isn't in place. They don't empower themselves... ‘I'm just gonna do this’. Instead, the thinking goes,‘Well, when the policy is there, we'll act. We need to lobby first and then we can act’.»
She described the chicken-and-egg mechanism of climate policy: «Everybody was waiting! Governments are still trapped in a negative feedback loop. They say, ‘Well, the banks won't finance it.’ And their banks say, ‘There's no policy in place.’ And the insurance companies say, ‘Well, when the banks finance it, and when there's policy in place, we can possibly act.’» (Adam, 2022) This assessment about the insurance companies would later prove to be true.
Many layers of linsseed oil with tar gives the wood a black color.
Construction takes longer than planned
The plans are big: it has already been announced that once the Ceiba is finished, a sister ship, the «Pitaya», will be built at the same location. And the website also features a state-of-the-art container ship with a Dyna rig – the ship that the founders of Tres Hombres originally helped to develop. But it has not yet been built. Progress at the shipyard has not been as fast as planned. Danielle had originally said that the Ceiba would be launched in 2021 and start operating in 2022, but the date has been pushed back further and further.
«Setbacks were due entirely to lack of funding. Since the beginning funding goals were never reached. it is an incredible feat to have done so much so fast with so little», Lynx declares. Apart from that the work using tropical woods resulted tiresome. The pieces for the frames were sawn directly on site from the delivered logs. This often requires the tools to be resharpened several times for a single cut, as the hardness of the wood quickly dulls them. (Cruz Gilmore, n.d.)
At the end of August 2023, the latest update on the construction progress appeared on the website: the next step would be to tackle the outer planking. So, for the time being, there was no end in sight.
Failed Plan B
Sailcargo had won Café William as a future customer. Its owner, Serge Picard, also invested in the Ceiba. It is obvious that the repeatedly postponed completion date is testing the patience of investors. In short, the shipping company Sailcargo needed a ship.
The «Vega Gamley» was found in Sweden. A family of boat builders had completely refurbished the ship, which is over 100 years old. On May 17, 2022, the former co-owner of the Vega, Odd Bergström, wrote on Facebook: "It is with pride and joy that we now hand over responsibility for our life's work to new hands! (...) The Vega will once again become the cargo ship it once was, transporting coffee from Colombia to New Jersey! The new owners are incredibly enthusiastic people who will take good care of the Vega, and it will be exciting to follow their adventures on the world's oceans!"
In a shipyard in Harlingen (NL), the mizzen mast was replaced and the Vega was converted back into a cargo ship. In August 2023, Sailcargo announced that the work and sea trials had been successfully completed. Everything was ready for the voyage across the Atlantic to transport coffee beans for Café William.
The Vega. Insurance companies do not want to insure old wooden ships for cargo transport, even if they have been thoroughly repaired.
Then came the setback: as Danielle had explained in the interview, no insurance company was willing to insure the cargo transport with a 100-year-old wooden ship. Without insurance, there would be no cargo, and without cargo, there would be no income to transfer the remaining purchase price to the previous owners. Sailcargo had already invested money in the conversion. The Vega was left idle between the old and new owners. The Ecoclipper cooperative's attempt to charter the Vega for cargo voyages was also blocked by this unclear situation and the refusal of the insurance companies.
Café William has since found another solution: in December 2023, the Avontuur sailed a cargo of coffee from Colombia to Canada. Picard later decided to transport the cargo on the new ship «Anemos» owned by the Breton shipping company TOWT.
Who runs Sailcargo?
At the end of October 2022, Sailcargo sent out a press release: Co-founder and CEO Danielle Doggett is stepping down after eight years. Julia Milmore will take over the helm in her place. «Julia Milmore has worked for companies such as BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, and brings strong leadership skills to the table. Before joining Sailcargo Inc., Julia worked at Café William for ten years,» the press release stated.
In the YouTube video «A New Era for Sailcargo Inc,» published by Sailcargo, the owner of Café William personally brings the new CEO to the Vega to meet with Danielle. A YouTube comment raises the question: «Has Café William taken over Sailcargo? Looks like they've appointed their own CEO...»
This interpretation may be too simplistic. Danielle also left Sailcargo for personal reasons. And perhaps Picard simply wanted to see which ship his coffee would be transported on in the future, as the insurance debacle was not yet known at that point. Be that as it may, Milmore remained CEO of Sailcargo for only three months – from October to December 2022.
In October 2023, Sailcargo announced the next change in leadership on its website: "Sailcargo is pleased to announce the appointment of our new CEO, Mauricio Ortiz. As Costa Rica's ambassador to Canada until 2022, Mr. Ortiz has extensive experience in various fields that will bring new impetus to our way of working. (...) Resolving the Vega situation and preparing for the exterior planking of the Ceiba remain our top priorities." However, Ortiz also left Sailcargo after three months.
Visionary thinking remains essential
The last announcement on the Sailcargo website concerns an international meeting of the forestry and timber industry at the Green Shipyard in February 2024. Since then, there has been radio silence. «Sailcargo has informed the shareholders, and other relevant parties that the construction of ceiba is temporarily on hold, and that until that time funds are not going to be allocated towards social media», Lynx says. This silence on a channel that had previously been used intensively turned the news about adversity – fire, Vega, lack of capital – into the wrong story of the «end of the Ceiba».
If this negative story were to come true, a great deal of idealism, lifetime, commitment, manpower, and money would have been invested in vain in the vision of a planet-friendly future for shipping. The failure of the holistic combination of social and ecological concerns would not only be highly regrettable in itself. The decarbonization path of «alternative fuels» favored by the shipping industry has also had little success. In 2025, orders for ships with engines that can be operated «alternatively» declined. Even fossil LNG is classified as «alternative.» In the UN shipping organization IMO, resistance from fossil-fuel-oriented countries has led to the postponement of concrete measures to achieve the «net zero 2050» goal. And nuclear propulsion on cargo ships would create more new problems than it could solve old ones.
Giving up is not an option
«The Ceiba was going very well, the Vega purchase was the major cause for the setback.» But in the meantime, an agreement has been reached with the former owners and the debts have been settled. The Vega is currently serving as an Airbnb in Amsterdam, which is generating income. The boat is a thoroughly refurbished, seaworthy three-masted wooden topsail schooner. The underwater hull is covered with copper, which inhibits fouling and keeps away shipworms – a dream for a traditional sailing ship. Isn't it a shame to use such a ship as a mini-hotel with 12 beds? Lynx agrees. «We do have ideas, but they are not yet ready to be announced. We are concentrating now on finishing the Ceiba.»
When the keel was laid in 2019, the Ceiba was considered a large ship with a cargo capacity of 250 tons. Meanwhile, the Breton shipping company TOWT operates a fleet of steel ships with modern sails built in Romania and Vietnam that can carry 1,100 tons. In case investors can be found quickly, the Ceiba will be completed in two years at the earliest. Won't it then be too late to enter a market that will already be occupied by larger ships? «That's one of the reasons why we're working on a new business model,» explains Lynx. Cargo transport will be expanded to include sail training. That sounds like the model that has been working on the Tres Hombres for years. Lynx is familiar with the Tres Hombres, as he not only created the figurehead, but also the carving at the helm.
The supporting program of reforestation, training for the local population, and horticulture is also currently on hold. «We will resume the carpentry training as soon as we need people to plank the hull. We have to focus on building the ship.»
In other words, everything depends on raising funds. We're talking about two million dollars. Wind propulsion – even if it encounters difficulties – remains relevant. This is particularly true for projects that are not limited to sail technology, but address system change. In an interview, Lynx responded to the question of how the shipping industry as a whole could become climate-friendly: «Shipping fewer goods and then shipping them more intelligently. The amount of unnecessary products and empty ships traveling around the world is astonishing. If there were also subsidies that would reduce the cost of local products compared to cheaper imported goods, the respective population could consciously make sustainable choices without their budget playing a role.» (Strauch, 2023)
If projects such as the construction of the Ceiba could fail due to the restrictions imposed by a system that is focused solely on money rather than on preserving the basis of life, this does not mean that their demand to orientate ourselves towards the limits of the planet – sufficiency! – is wrong. On the contrary: in view of the acutely threatened foundations of life, visions are not just a dream of ridiculed dreamers. Rather, they are a declaration of love for life. People who dare to set out on this path are a necessity.
Excerpt from the YouTube video “What happened to SAIL CARGO INC? ...visiting the jungle shipyard that went dark 2 years ago.”
References
Adams, Mary (2020): Ceiba – Revolutionising the Shipping Industry, Interview für das Online- Magazin 3rd Space, https://3rd-space.org/ceiba-revolutionising-the-shipping-industry/
Adams, Mary (2022): Ceiba – The Future of Carbonless Shipping, Interview für das Online-Magazin 3rd Space, https://3rd-space.org/ceiba-the-future-of-carbonless-shipping/
Joswig, Jan (2022); Ceiba, das Mutterschiff, in Floatmagazin v. 13.7.2022,, https://floatmagazin.de/boote/ceiba-das-mutterschiff-astillero-verde-frachtsegler/
Morten Strauch (2023): So entsteht in Costa Rica das größte Frachtschiff aus Holz. In «Yacht» v. 9.5.2023, https://www.yacht.de/yachten/werften/frachtsegler-ceiba-so-entsteht-incosta-rica-das-groesstefrachtschiff-aus-holz/
respektive: How the largest wooden cargo ship is being built in Costa Rica, https://www.yacht.de/en/shipyards/cargo-ship-ceiba-how-the-largestwooden-cargo-ship-is-beingbuilt-in-costa-rica/
Pablo Cruz Gilmour (o.J.): Harder than Steel. https://www.sailcargo.inc/blog/harder-than-steel?rq=harder