AMSTERDAM — Gliding into the port of Amsterdam under full sail with a booty of 40 tons of Caribbean rum, coffee and cocoa, the twin-masted Tres Hombres looks like something from the heyday of 17th-century piracy.
But this 32-meter (105-feet) brigantine has a much nobler mission than the pirates of old: sustainable goods transport using the energy from wind captured in its sails.
“We have almost no emissions because we sail without an engine,” said Sabine Fox, the 51-year-old boss of Fairtransport, the firm that operates the Tres Hombres.
Every year the ship, whose name is inspired by the three men who founded Fairtransport in 2007, sails some 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles) across the Atlantic, bringing goods from the Caribbean to Amsterdam.
“We choose products which are not produced in Europe because we didn’t want to be in competition with local markets,” Fox told AFP.
“How many things do we import from China that we don’t need?” she asked.
By offering a selective and clearly slower supply chain, Fairtransport aims to raise awareness about emissions from shipping.
According to the UN’s International Maritime Organization, shipping accounts for around three percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The sustainably farmed products transported by the Tres Hombres are sold to high-end stores in northern Europe, which the vessel sails around every summer.
‘Terrifying experience’
Aaron Smit, a deckhand, seems a bit disoriented by the industrial landscape of the port of Amsterdam after more than a month sailing from the Azores to the Dutch capital.
But his face lights up when he recounts his experiences aboard the Tres Hombres.
“If you go to the captain’s chair, which is right above the water under the bowsprit, you can be really close to the dolphins and see them jumping all around you,” the 20-year-old told AFP.
But he also recalls “the most terrifying experience I have ever had at sea” — a storm with gusts up to force nine that smashed the ship around.
Strong sea legs are a must for the international crew, made up of eight volunteers and seven professional sailors, and skippered by its French captain, Anne-Flore Gannat.
“We have to adapt every day because we are only powered by the winds,” said Gannat, 40. “We are moving under sail only. There is no engine.”
The Tres Hombres manages an average speed of seven to eight knots, building in a buffer of three knots to avoid delaying the cargo.
Once they reach their destination, the products are delivered to chocolatiers or coffee roasters.
To cover the costs of such an operation, Fairtransport sells its own “Tres Hombres” brand of coffee, chocolate and rum.
It also transports goods for other companies or charges people to come along for the voyage.
“We have a lot of different ways to finance our adventure,” Fox said.