Piriou Shipyard recently delivered the second sailing powered cargo vessel “Artemis” to French shipping company TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT).
The Artemis, which has been under construction for more than two years, is the second in a series of eight sister vessels ordered by TOWT. The first vessel, Anemos, began its maiden voyage to New York earlier this month. The first two vessels are on order for 2022; the other six are under contract for May 2024 and are expected to be delivered in 2026 and 2027, respectively.
With a length of 80 meters, a speed of 10 knots, a crew of 12, a deadweight of 1,100 tons and a capacity of 320 days at sea per year, the sail-powered vessel will be fitted with two masts and nearly 3,000 square meters of sails. The Phoenix-class sail-powered cargo vessels reduce CO2 emissions by more than 95 % compared to container ships using traditional fossil fuels.
TOWT said the eight sail-powered vessels could transport about 200,000 tons of cargo, reducing CO2 emissions by about 40,000 tons, and that by 2027 it would have “the world’s largest fleet of sail-powered vessels”.