Steven Woods
In Partial Completion of Requirements For Master of Resilient and Sustainable Communities, Prescott College, Spring 2021
Executive Summary
Sail Freight is an ever more popular, if far from mainstream, option for reducing emissions from transportation and providing logistical solutions through proven technologies. With efforts such as The Vermont and Maine Sail Freight Projects having recently demonstrated the possible viability using sail freight in the modern world, alongside Tres Hombres and other efforts in Europe, there is a growing fleet of windjammers plying the seas. The last significant fleet of sailing vessels to work the seas for commercial purposes ceased operation in 1948, leaving about a 70 year gap in the working tradition of sail freight.
This revived interest in Sail Freight and renewably powered transportation in general has some merits, but rigorous examinations of what a re-adoption of sail freight would require are conspicuously absent. Much of the focus appears to be on Supplemental Wind Power for existing commercial and conventional ships to increase fuel efficiency.
While some saving can be had, up to about 20% so far in a handfull of trials, this does not achieve the requirements of meeting global warming targets, nor does it open the door to looking at perfectly viable alternatives. The shortcomings of biofuels and electrification are also mostly ignored in a maritime environment.
This paper proposes methods of understanding this issue of scale by calculating the needs of the New York Metro Area for food. By determining the minimum average food requirements of citizens and populations, daily tonnages of approximately 50,000 tons of food per day were established for the 20 million inhabitants of the NYMA.
Using foodshed analysis to calculate necessary fleet capacities therefrom, as well as the labor needed to support this fleet, a model is provided for the New York Metro Area. Needing a fleet tonnage of over one million, nearly 10,000 ships and over 62,000 sailors, the time to build the necessary fleet for New York’s food needs would be several decades using all the US Shipbuilding and Sailor Training resources in existence. The usefulness of these formulas when confronted with regional food self reliance information is also examined. A Short evaluation of fleet needs is calculated from sources on New England’s food goals for 2060. A Fleet of some 3000 ships and 18,000 sailors could likely take care of importing half of New England’s food requirements, if agricultural capacity changes are met.
The economic and environmental savings offered by Sail Freight are not insignificant. Studies in the South Pacific during the oil crises of the 1970s showed that the use of low capital changes could rapidly and cost effectively reduce oil dependence in the region. In the last 10 years, much of this has been confirmed and is being actively turned into working projects in the region. These are important proving grounds for Sail Freight. The Luxury Goods market served by most of the European Sail Freight initiatives are working to build alternative commercial networks which will prove important in future.
In-depth examination of historic models of sail freight from all over the world and covering approximately the last five thousand years give a wide range of data on fleet composition, ship efficiency, ship capacity, and other elements of sail freight. Finnish Community Ownership models for small vessels from the late 19th century and the construction of these ships for community use gives what amounts to a Community Supported Shipping model which may prove useful for initial expansion of sailing fleets. Crowd funding and direct investment are also options used in recent Sail Freight operations with some success.
Aside from the fleet and sailors to operate it, regulatory concerns are a significant obstacle to the adoption of Sail Freight in the United States. The Jones Act, which regulates all shipping sailing between US ports, prevents the use of all but one of the active Sail Freight vessels in the world from operating between US Ports in a coastal capacity. Navigational equipment and registration, as well as port requirements are also an impediment, as is insurance for small vessels engaged in atypical trade. Cost to build vessels, and a lack of infrastructure to operate them are also problems beyond the scope of individuals or small organizations to address on their own. The rebuilding of brokerages, warehousing systems, and foresight in all aspects of urban provisioning will be extremely important to a successful transition to Sail Freight.
Sail Freight alone cannot fix the problems we are facing as a world and a culture. Many other auxiliary changes must also happen to not only make Sail Freight viable, but reduce the need for shipping overall. These include cultural and regulatory ships incorporating Right to Repair and Design for Repair, the avoidance of single-use products, prevention of food wastes, and localized production of other goods. An adjustment of the cultural obsession with speed and instantaneity must also occur when adapting to a world which relies on the weather for energy.
Recommendations and analysis for addressing these challenges over the coming decades are included in the Appendixes, though they are not novel in most cases. Exemption for Sailing Vessels from the Jones Act, improvement of infrastructure for small vessels, and subsidy for sail training programs are among the major sail-freight specific changes which should be made a priority. Other general improvements for a post-carbon world and meeting Paris Climate Accord requirements such as increased taxation on transportation fuels, tires, and carbon emissions all weigh the market more in favor of Sail Freight at all scales. A weight-distance tax on all non-maritime shipping would also greatly encourage Sail Freight and other sustainable long-distance transportation. Recommendations for further research are also included.