Coffee Sets Sail as Importers and Roasters Look for Efficient and Sustainable Ways of Coffee Transport

By: Alexis Rubinstein, Managing Editor - Coffee Network

Thu, 26 May 2022, 15:39

Alexis Rubinstein

Managing Editor

CoffeeNetwork (New York) – In December 2021, French-based coffee importer, Belco, shipped 22 tons of green coffee sourced from local cooperatives in Colombia on the largest cargo ship in existence, chartered by TOWT.

The shipment is the largest batch of coffee loaded in a single port by a sailing vessel in modern history.

Santa Marta, a port located in the North-East of Colombia, will be a strategic port for the future of the Sailboats, as it is particularly close to the coffee plantations of the Sierra Nevada.

The ship docked at the port of Bordeaux at the end of January and the unloading took place in Bassens.

Belco has committed to TOWT transport by sail, to transport a part of its coffees by sailboat from 2022 to reach a minimum of 50% of its total volume in 2025, i.e. 4000 tons.

By 2025, Belco aims to have at least 50% of the total volume of its coffees transported by sail.

"Making our transport more sustainable is a necessity, not a sales argument or a communication action. You don't always have to calculate everything as an entrepreneur, it's just our responsibility, a business decision that should go without saying, period,” says Alexandre Bellangé, CEO of Belco.

In Costa Rica, a company called SAILCARGO INC. has purchased the cargo vessel S/V Vega Gamleby. Vega will sail approximately 148 cubic metres (or 82 tons) of green coffee beans and other dry goods between Colombia and the United States. The Swedish ship will commence her delivery voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in mid-May, 2022. The first cargo will be coffee beans, transported for Canadian coffee importer Café William and will sail in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The purchase of Vega will expedite SAILCARGO INC.’s vision of clean shipping and allow the company to start generating revenue this year. This will pave the way for SAILCARGO’s first ship Ceiba (still under construction in Costa Rica and expected to launch in 2023), allowing the company to start shipping while Ceiba is finished.

“The clean shipping industry is growing faster than ever and we want to keep that momentum going while Ceiba is completed. We specifically bought Vega because she is built to the highest possible standard and has a stellar international reputation. She’s a beautiful ship.” Danielle Doggett, CEO and founder of SAILCARGO INC.

Once she arrives in the Caribbean, Vega will be refit to maximise the cargo holds - before beginning her new life sailing products from Santa Marta, Colombia to New Jersey, United States. Café William has booked all northbound cargo voyages to ship their coffee beans. Café William is a Quebec roaster focused on the production of organic and fair trade coffees.

UK-based coffee roaster, Yallah coffee says their preferred shipping method is by sail. This is carbon free transit from the port of origin to Cornwall. “Over the past few years we've been steadily increasing the volume of coffee we ship under sail, working with New Dawn Traders to roast and ship coffee for their Sail Cargo Alliance (SCA). We see this as direct climate action and we’re scaling our business around this concept. The rest of our coffee is shipped in containers, never by air,” according to the company.

Alexis Rubinstein

Coffee

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