The moment is right for a rebirth and transformation of the American Merchant Marine — and it will start in New York
By building a new American merchant fleet designed to deal with the environmental, human health, and security impacts inherent in moving goods and people by water in a climate constrained future – we can begin to address the anthropogenic climate, supply chain, and national security impacts of merchant shipping.
These CliMax (ships designed to maximize the reduction of climate altering greenhouse gases) ships will be locally built, from locally sourced and recycled materials, crewed with locally trained mariners, home ported along the Hudson, New York Harbor, the canals and coastal NE States – carrying locally grown, locally processed, and locally manufactured goods. With liberty from fossil fuels, these future proof ships will be a positive disruption to the status quo.
However, the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords and the Trump administration stepping back from addressing climate change as a national security issue creates a blind spot for US foreign and security policy, while ignoring years of bipartisan support in Congress for addressing climate security risks and the decline of the American merchant fleet.
The Center for Post Carbon Logistics (The Center) and its colleagues have long been advocating for a rebirth and transformation of the American merchant marine to address the climate, supply chain, and national security impacts of merchant shipping. However, with Federal funding out of the picture for the foreseeable future, we are reliant on a New York and Northeast US Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) strategy to “lead the charge.” Yourfinancial commitment now will enable us to complete foundational work to establish this fleet and the landside infrastructure to support it. Our plans include but are not limited to:
R&D CliMax Ships and necessary logistics infrastructure with regional funding and expertise
Work with NYSERDA to build a program for Decarbonizing New York’s Marine Highways
With the initial phase of research and advocacy work well underway we are poised to “open the door” to ship design, mariner training, business planning, and active investment in a fleet of vessels to be built in Northeast US shipyards, that will lead to a fleet of operating near-zero-carbon ships along rivers, canals, and the coast – and very quickly to an expansion to other Jones Act protected shipping routes, such as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to New York, and California to Hawaii. These vessels range from a 39’ river and harbor schooner, an 80’ canal/river/coastal vessel, a solar-battery-electric canal and river barge, and a 200’ ocean-going break bulk and container sailing cargo schooner.
RSS 80, Geoff Uttmark Naval Architect
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to The Center today, to continue and expand on the work already accomplished. Supporting our regional approach will open the door to a resilient and decarbonized future for the Northeast. Over the last year and a half, because of your generosity, The Center:
Schooner Apollonia, photograph by Laurent Apollon
Provided financial and public awareness assistance to the Schooner Apollonia for a 2024 cargo voyage.
Provided assistance to the Hudson River Maritime Museum for an exhibit, The New Age of Sail.
Was able to sponsor The Andrus Logistics Fellowship to tangibly grow the regional sustainable logistics network and strategize/collaborate for future growth of that network in the greater Hudson Valley and greater New York Harbor regions.
Published peer-reviewed papers, laying out the groundwork for a green shipping future at the Sustainability in Ship Design and Operation (SISDO) Conference, where the audience of student naval architects responded with comments and questions about how this will affect their practice.
Is working with a well-respected local naval architecture firm to create engineering materials for open source near-zero-emissions vessels and pallet-size containers.
Recruited and is working with a team of Sustainable Innovations MBA students for developing industry, market, financial, and business analysis of Sail Freight in the Northeast. The outcome of this collaboration will be a model business plan for startup and established near-zero-emission maritime cargo companies.
Working with our R&D Director, The Center has been an integral part of publishing the first edition of the International Windship Association’s Small Windships Publication in September 2024 and is assisting in developing the second edition for publication in September 2025.
Your financial commitment now will enable us to complete foundational work to establish a near-zero-emission American Merchant fleet, the mariners, and the landside infrastructure to support it. Thank you.
Give Today to Protect Tomorrow
Your support empowers local communities to transition away from fossil fuels and build sustainable, post-carbon logistics.
Based in New York’s Hudson Valley, the Center for Post Carbon Logistics (the Center) is engaged in a long-running campaign to bring the idea of coastal trade under sail and other zero emission vessels back to the United States. The Center is currently focusing on turning the New York -New Jersey Harbor and Hudson Valley into a world-class sail freight hub for training, ship building, sailmaking, trade in small wind ships, and resilient working waterfronts. Implementation is underway; cohosting the Conference On Small Scale Inland And Coastal Sail Freight at the Hudson River Maritime Museum with Schooner Apollonia in November 2022, supporting the Northeast Grain Race of 2022, and other similar initiatives. The Center also responded to “Blue Highways RFEI: “NYC DOT, EDC Seek Creative Solutions to Move More Freight Via Waterways Instead of Roadways,” and has provided technical comments on several New York City waterfront plans, RFEIs. and RFPs.
The Center’s publications include the Sail Freight Handbook, now in its second edition, and the Rondout Riverport 2040, a detailed imagination of a working waterfront future for Kingston. Other publications, including an Apprentice Sailor’s Handbook, are under development to support additional training efforts. The Center’s training programs are being developed for sailmaking, working sail, cargo handling, boatbuilding, traditional rigging, designing climate adapted small ports, and other specialties. These courses are planned to be offered starting in 2024, in cooperation with other organizations in the region.
WHY THE CENTER RESPONDED
As shipyard and fabrication work is a good training ground for a number of skilled trades, including welders, metal fabricators, electricians, plumbers, carpenters and cabinetmakers, solar panel installers, riggers, and others, this is a prime industry to take advantage of the training programs offered at BNY. These trades can all create pipelines from the training programs currently hosted at Brooklyn Naval Yard, providing approximately 35-50 permanent jobs and contract or internship jobs for potentially dozens more technicians depending on order-book status.
The products of this facility will not only provide the devices and vehicles necessary for Energy Transition, they will create jobs both fabricating and operations. The fabrication shop employment numbers have been enumerated above, but each vessel launched will require between 4-12 sailors, each bike and trailer set will require a rider, and maintainers for these last-mile machines will also be required. These second-order job impacts can be significant, and while not all of them will accumulate to New York City due to exports, a considerable number will remain in the Metro Area and New York State. For many of the ships, New York sailors may well be the crew, regardless of where in the world they end up sailing.
WHAT OTHER ORGANIZATIONS, BUSINESSES, AND INDIVIDUALS CAN DO
Forming a Coalition for a Zero Carbon Maritime Future in Brooklyn
This future at the Brooklyn Navy Yard is currently beyond the capabilities of the Center for Post Carbon Logistics and its partner organizations, but it is not beyond the capabilities of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. There are a wide range of shipyards in the New York Metro Area, and businesses seeking to acquire new-build vessels for Blue Highways work in the Northeast US region. Finding supporting organizations and initial customers for this endeavor should not be difficult if the BNYDC wishes to pursue this sustainable maritime future for the site. Your letters of support (sample included after our letter) will enable us to build the kind of coalition necessary to convince the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation to use the facility for what it was designed to do. The Center for Post Carbon Logistics is ready to assist in the design, construction, and operations of a new shipyard at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Please add your comments so that the request for proposals (RFP) for the redevelopment is compatible with these near zero emission maritime uses.
The following is a letter from the Center for Post Carbon Logistics responding to Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI. Also included is a draft letter of support.
June 17, 2024
Andrew Tran Director of Development
Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation
141 Flushing Ave, Building 77, Unit 801
Brooklyn, NY 11205
Director Tran and All Concerned,
The following is the Center for Post Carbon Logistics (the Center) response to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) RFEI for the unique opportunity to develop a 2.75-acre site on the Brooklyn waterfront for clean energy infrastructure or the production of climate technology.
The intent of the BNYDC’s RFEI is to gather information about how the BNYDC can facilitate the development, production and deployment of a significant amount of [energy transition] “devices” of varying sizes and scales (i.e. heat pumps, solar panels, electric vehicle chargers, transmission stations, battery energy storage systems, to name a few). BNYDC has a rare opportunity to redevelop the Site to provide critically needed clean energy infrastructure and/or establish industrial space that will develop products addressing climate change and create jobs in New York City’s emerging “green economy.”
Ironically the one “device” whose manufacture is most suited to the site is not mentioned – zero emission ships. These ships, now being builtin Europe and Asia include both old and new technology that directly addresses climate change. These designs innovatively combine efficient battery storage, electric motors, solar panels, modern and traditional wind propulsion technology, materials, and ship building technology. With a shipyard available in New York Harbor, these vessels would join the repurposed and purpose built ships in operation right now on the Hudson Riverand the Harbor.
Locally built, from locally sourced and recycled materials, crewed with locally trained mariners, home ported along the Hudson, the Harbor, and the canals, carrying locally grown, locally processed, and locally manufactured goods – with liberty from fossil fuels, these future proof ships will be a positive disruption to the status quo.
The Center is a New York based non-profit organization working to connect communities through resilient and sustainable maritime trade. By supporting the development of climate resilient small ports, sail and solar electric cargo and passenger vessels, and human-scale last-mile logistics solutions throughout the Hudson Valley and Northeast US, the Center advocates for a post-carbon freight network in our own region and across the nation. We work with a coalition of operators of zero/low carbon emission vessels,
Page 2, The Center for Post Carbon Logistics response to Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation RFEI
cargo owners, naval architects, mariners, boat builders, advocates, and researchers all focused on re-building the long-neglected regional “Blue Highways.“
In light of New York City’s array of initiatives to increase maritime freight transport, including DockNYC, Blue Highways, NYC Working Waterfront Plan, Freight NYC, and others, it makes sense that New York would want to see the vessels and infrastructure needed to implement these plans manufactured in New York as an example for the entire nation. The Brooklyn Navy Yard is one of the few places this could be done in the Northeast, let alone New York City, and ships for other regions and international trade could also be built for export in this facility.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard produced US military ships from 1801 to 1966, and through 1975 constructed multiple 220,000-ton Very Large Crude Carriers, tug and barge units, and barges under a commercial shipyard. In 2011 the site was a finalist for constructing a new class of chemical carriers for US Domestic and international buyers. Clearly this facility is still an important American maritime asset, and the offered facility was built as the main fabrication shop for commercial ship construction. The fully enclosed building is empty, with reinforced floors, oversize doors, overhead cranes, and industrial utilities, and there are various public and private incentives available for modernization and upgrades.
The US currently lags in design and construction of low-carbon ships to re-develop a sustainable marine highway system. This does not need to be the case, and a coalition of shipbuilders, naval architects, ship operators, and others can easily be built to make New York and the Brooklyn Navy Yard a central part of the shipbuilding industry once again. The site is ideal for bringing existing successful green vessel designs to the US for domestic trade, and selected export markets. In so doing, scores of permanent maritime and ship yard jobs will be created at BNY, with dozens more seasonal trade jobs, and hundreds of jobs aboard the vessels launched from this facility, which can be incorporated with existing training programs.
The RFEI is open only to “Clean Energy Infrastructure” and “Climate Solutions Urban Manufacturing” proposals. Shipbuilding falls under the latter category and is a strategically important nationally. There are few locations available for and have the capacity for shipbuilding activities, whereas hundreds of locations could be used to build the devices mentioned in the RFEI. Assigning this essential maritime resource to a use which does not require its unique set of circumstances will be a significant blow to future domestic shipbuilding capabilities. This is a matter of National importance considering Jones Act restrictions for domestic trade which require vessels carrying passengers or cargo between two US ports be US built, flagged, and owned, as well as crewed by US citizens or nationals. The US shipbuilding industry is already close to capacity just maintaining and building Navy contracts, leaving little capacity for civilian construction. Diverting possible resources for other uses is a blow not only to the national and global maritime energy transition, but to the possibility of taking the quickest and longest-proven method of reducing roadway traffic congestion, fossil fuel dependence, and transportation-based greenhouse gas emissions by mode-shifting freight to marine highways.
This is a chance to continue a centuries-long tradition at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, while achieving all of the BNYDC’s goals, and supporting additional City, State, and Federal initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs, and foster innovation in industry. The current opportunity at the Brooklyn Navy Yard is an unprecedented opportunity to kickstart the construction and employment of short sea, canal, coastal, and cross-harbor near-zero emissions vessels, that will be employed in New York Harbor, the
Page 3, The Center for Post Carbon Logistics response to Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation RFEI
Hudson River, New York State Canal System, and beyond. The site’s history and current situation both lend themselves to this use, and a coalition of the necessary organizations to make this work is already forming around New York Harbor. We look forward to working alongside you in making this sustainable maritime future a reality.
Sincerely,
Andrew Willner
Executive Director
[DRAFT LETTER OF SUPPORT]
Andrew Tran
Director of Development
The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation
141 Flushing Ave, Building 77, Unit 801
Brooklyn, NY 11205
Director Tran and All Concerned,
We write today in support of the proposed plan by the Center for Post Carbon Logistics to revive domestic shipbuilding at Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Building 293. The National, State, Regional, and Local importance of this proposal cannot be understated. Modal shift of freight to maritime highways is the best and most immediate means of reducing air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, traffic congestion and casualties, and fossil fuel dependence in the Northeast US and beyond.
Due to the Jones Act of 1920, vessels carrying cargo between two US Ports must be US built, owned, flagged, and crewed, and there are few facilities remaining which can build advanced, 21st century cargo vessels for cross-harbor, short sea, and long distance coastal trade. The number of well paid permanent green jobs generated directly and indirectly by returning this portion of the Brooklyn Navy Yard to shipbuilding will likely number in the hundreds, while creating the hardware needed to realize the vision of New York City as a world hub of green maritime transportation and an example for the world’s energy transition.
[Paragraph describing organization and further reasons for support]
As a result of the Center’s mission and the recent RFEI from New York City regarding Maritime transport, it is appropriate that the Center respond with a statement of how our efforts already support these objectives, and how the City can meet or exceed their goals by looking outside their own borders. A focus on Regional Marine Services as defined in the RFEI will do the most to meet the City’s goal of using marine highways, cycle-trucks, and a working waterfront to tackle roadway congestion, improve safety, and reduce the ecological impact of the City’s economy. The response is available here.
OVERALL CONTEXT
The causes and consequences of climate change are well understood and described in great detail elsewhere, therefore this document will not focus on these effects and threats as such. The context of this response reflects a larger systems view of regional marine services and the potential for marine movement of goods and people; one which looks at more than the trucks coming into the NYC roadways, but those simply passing through as well. The City’s objectives are unlikely to be met by simply working within its own borders, due to the geography involved. The City reaching outside its own borders to improve life in the metro area is not novel: The preservation of farm and other conservation land in the Catskills in order to protect the City’s water supply is a prime example of this type of extra-mural work which the City has engaged in for over a century.
The costs of overcrowded roadways are extremely high, as acknowledged in the RFEI. By diverting as much trade as possible off the roadways and onto the water, these costs can be significantly reduced. As New York has some of the most congested roadways in the United States, it is imperative to relieve this pressure. Any reduction in truck miles traveled reduces emissions as well as congestion, and reduced congestion leads to reduced emissions per vehicle.
For example, reducing truck miles and emissions in the New York Metro Area (NYMA) hinges on a significant geographical junction which sits in the middle of the NYMA: Long Island is only accessible by roads going through New York City, via the Queens Expressway Bridge from the North or East, or across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge from the West and South. By creating and subsidizing the use of coastal trade from New Jersey to ports along the shores of Long Island, a significant amount of trucking miles could be avoided on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, while a series of ferries from Southern New England and the Hudson Valley to Long Island would similarly reduce truck traffic on New York’s highways. Connections between Boston and Philadelphia on sailing container vessels could remove hundreds of trucks per day, as could similar zero-emissions coastal services which bring trade around, as opposed to through, the city’s highways and bridges.
Even to allow for deliveries within the City’s boundaries, outer-ring hubs for modal shift should be encouraged in the Hudson Valley, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The farther out the cargo switches, the lower the roadway congestion will be and the lower the climate forcing emissions. This will also reduce congestion at the peripheries of the city, allowing for freer movement and higher air quality for all the Metro Area’s citizens, particularly in disadvantaged areas. The more points of embarkation for cargo outside the city, the more resilient and emissions efficient the entire system will be.
By expanding the available pool of ports which might be used for freight trans-shipping the overall impact on New York’s roadway congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, and quality of life can be enhanced. While initial constructions may be sited in close proximity to the City, creating an expanding network over the next few years is an economically beneficial plan which can alleviate the significant problems the City is now facing. In cooperation with State-Level initiatives to revitalize the New York State Canal System, full-length maritime connections can be restored to the Champlain Valley, Central and Western New York, and the Great Lakes, creating amplified benefits to the state as a whole.
One of the greatest advantages of this plan of action is that it can be implemented immediately and with little investment or administrative overhead: Simply creating a program to pay for trucks to travel free-to-operator on a number of existing ferries will immediately divert traffic as this is advertised. This increase in business for ferry companies will create an incentive to increase their capacity on existing routes. As the success of such a pilot program grows, other routes and ports can be deployed and put into service. With a coherent regional plan to create mutual advantage, a large-scale maritime sector can be revived in the New Jersey-New York-Connecticut corridor. The response is available here.
A greater adoption of waterborne freight, powered by low-carbon energy alternatives, could take the industry into a future where freight is no longer a sustainability pariah.
A reversion to wind power for oceangoing vessels, at least as an assist, has been championed for decades, and could certainly help. But there are other plans afoot, and favoring waterborne over road is the way forward for the freight industry in general, according to Andrew Willner, executive director at The Center for Post Carbon Logistics.
Ships Could Take Freight Off the Roads
The new, sustainable version of “intermodal” could mean combining road and rail with coastal and inland water whenever possible. Willner even envisions the emergence of a new class of freight service provider, a low-carbon third-party logistics provider, or LC3PL.
The stated mission of The Center for Post Carbon Logistics is to research and assist in the implementation of appropriate post-carbon maritime technology needed to keep commerce and transportation viable in a “carbon-constrained” world.
It has its work cut out for it. American commerce remains addicted to trucking — the number of trucks on the road has relentlessly increased, from just over 4.5 million in 1970 to nearly 13.5 million in 2020, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Worse, BTS says long-haul freight truck traffic on the National Highway System is projected to increase from 311 million miles per day in 2015 to 488 million miles per day by 2045. Ozone and fine particulate matter from vehicle emissions in 2016 led to an estimated 7,100 premature deaths in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S., according to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The cost isn’t just bad air quality and heat domes. An average of 5,000 people a year are killed in crashes involving large trucks, a death toll that has soared by almost 50% since 2011, according to the non-profit news service ProPublica. Tens of thousands more have been injured.
Real Possibilities, Many Obstacles
Taking freight off the roads is not only desirable for multiple reasons; it is also attractively feasible.
A great example: The Hudson River, which is navigable by cargo ships with a draft of up to 29 feet from New York City, up the densely populated Hudson Valley, to the state capital of Albany and beyond. At present, one sees only the occasional heating oil or project cargo barge, pushed by tugboats, lumbering up and down the river. But 100 years ago, this mighty waterway, which connects via a huge system of canals to the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, was one of the main cargo arteries of North America.
Then, of course, river traffic was powered by coal, contributing to life-threatening pollution, not just CO2 emissions. Today, it’s possible to haul up to 24 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo via ready-to-build “electric clippers,” which combine wind, solar and battery power, reaching speeds up to 10 knots.
Add in human-electric powered cargo tricycles, or “trikes” for last-mile delivery, and there’s an opportunity to reach tens of millions of consumers within a day without a single diesel-powered truck in sight.
So far, there is only one maverick vessel attempting to achieve this vision: the 64-foot-long Schooner Apollonia, which since 2020 has been transporting cargo on the Hudson River and in greater New York Harbor by wind, current, and tide alone.
Willner says a large obstacle in the way of a post-carbon freight future that favors water wherever possible is a reluctance to embrace both new and old technologies – not just sail, but solar, battery, methane and biofuel. With a shift in thinking, Willner sees an opportunity to move massive amounts of medium-range freight deliveries, in particular, off roads and onto waterways.
But a lack of vision is only part of the problem; there are also the tough realities of economics. U.S. roads are built and maintained with $204 billion in government funds per year (more than is spent on police), but rail freight infrastructure and waterways receive nothing. “If this had the same subsidies we have to ship by road, we could do this next week,” Willner says.
Chart: Union Pacific
Land Ahoy!
The trick to making waterborne freight vessels viable is to connect them with low-carbon land-based transport at both ends. Recent changes in consumer habits open new opportunities. The growth of e-commerce, which generally trends toward smaller deliveries, means alternatives to full-size trucks — small enough to be run on something other than an internal combustion engine — are very attractive.
UPS is successfully combining human and electric power by deploying tricycles (UPS Cargo Cruisers and Cyclo Cargos, which are both conventional and electrically assisted) in Hamburg, Dublin and Munich, and is testing this concept in other European cities. A UPS spokesperson says these tricycles are ideal for navigating dense, highly trafficked areas, delivering from container depots in the middle of the delivery area in each city. As such, they replace delivery trucks to reduce congestion and carbon emissions, and can even operate in pedestrian zones.
Another example is Austrian logistics firm Gebrüder Weiss, which announced in August that it’s using electric tricycles for deliveries to private homes and companies located on the Croatian islands of Rab and Lošinj.
But progress in adopting low-carbon, short-haul freight vehicles in the U.S., compared to Europe and Asia, is slow. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced in May that it’s testing a four-wheeled, battery-powered pedal assist cargo bike it intends to deploy later this summer on bike lanes and other roadway projects in New York City. But these and other projects remain small-scale and tentative. They also tend to focus, understandably, on densely populated areas where the last-mile could be a few hundred yards. That explains, at least partly, why Europe is ahead — population density in the EU is 300 persons per square mile, versus 81 persons in the U.S. All the same, pilot programs are delivering hopeful results.
“When it comes to the U.S., we’re looking to our extensive urban solutions network outside the U.S. as potential blueprints for reimagining our industry here,” the UPS spokesperson says. “There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to sustainable last-mile deliveries in busy city centers. Every city has different challenges and requirements, and we are taking the learnings from our previous projects as we continue to explore various innovative urban logistics solutions to best serve our customers while working alongside cities, state and federal government partners.”
Future-Proof Liberty Ships
Willner looks forward to a proliferation of the Electric Clippers, and cites various compelling advantages of the ships, aside from their low-carbon profile. First, they’re American built. That means they can ply not only international routes, but also qualify under the U.S. Jones Act, which requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be transported on ships that are built, owned, and operated by U.S. citizens or permanent residents. They can, therefore, deliver freight between U.S. coastal destinations (and inland ones too). Willner calls them “future-proof Liberty ships.”
Further, one of the caveats of electric-powered vehicles, even if the electricity is generated by “clean” sources, is that lithium-ion batteries are problematic in multiple ways, including difficulties with safe disposal, and raw materials coming from questionable sources. But the old, lead-acid batteries are four or five times heavier, and on other forms of transport tip the scales against efficiency and therefore sustainability. However, they’re more than welcome on a ship, Willner points out. “We want the ballast!”
Meanwhile, Back at Sea
Large, oceangoing freight vessels with sails seem to be actually becoming a commercial reality. According to The Conversation, Japanese bulk carrier MOL is operating a wind-assisted ship. American food giant Cargill is working with Olympic sailor Ben Ainslie to deploy WindWings on its routes. Swedish container line Wallenius is aiming for Oceanbird to cut emissions by up to 90%. The French start-up Zephyr & Borée has built the Canopée, which will transport parts of European Space Agency’s Ariane 6 rocket this year.
In January 2021, the London-based International Windship Association and its 150-plus members declared a “Decade of Wind Propulsion.” Association secretary Gavin Allwright says the initiative, after a delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, is now getting wind in its sails. There are currently 23 large ships — including two very large crude carriers (VLCCs) – fitted with some form of wind propulsion. More importantly, Allwright says, it took 12 years to get to 23; the number will double in the next 12 months.
And sometimes, the old ways offer a fresh alternative. The BBC reports that Dutch company Ecoclipper in June ran a voyage on a 1912 traditional two-mast Dutch sail barge, carrying mixed loads that included cheese, wine and olive oil, from Amsterdam to Porto in Portugal and back again, with stops in Spain, France and England. Chief executive Jorne Langelaan told the BBC he hopes to build a fleet of up to 25 wind-powered cargo ships in the future, utilizing the latest design technology, and capable of carrying 700 metric tons of cargo, at a cost in the region of €9 million ($9.85 million) each. A greater use of wind-powered freight is the only way long-distance transport and travel will remain feasible in the future, Langelaan said. “The big goal of Ecoclipper is to connect the continents [with] emission-free cargo shipping.”
Please support the Sustainable Logistics Fellow and the important work of the Center for Post Carbon Logistics with a contribution.
Highlights from the Andrus Fellowship to date: June – November 2023
Captain Sam Merrett and “Supercargo” Brad Vogel aboard the Schooner Apollonia
Inaugural Andrus Fellow Brad Vogel has spent six busy months working to both:
tangibly grow the regional sustainable logistics network and
strategize/collaborate for future growth of that network in the greater Hudson Valley and greater New York Harbor regions.
While the Fellowship’s focus continues to center on the waterborne sustainable sail freight route run by the Schooner Apollonia, it also encompassed significant shore-side and ship-to-shore elements designed to increase multi-modal linkages for moving goods while optimizing to reduce or eliminate carbon-based emissions.
Tangibly Growing the Regional Sustainable Logistics Network – On-Water
Route Map
Additional routes where sustainable low/no carbon transport of goods to and/or from a new port of call via sail freight shipping (wind, tide and current powered) was made possible through the planning, coordination, and logistical efforts of the Andrus Fellow:
Direct Sail Freight Service to/from New Ports (connecting existing Schooner Apollonia network): West Haverstraw, NY, Dobbs Ferry, NY, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn Greenpoint, Brooklyn Gowanus, Brooklyn Hoboken, NJ.
On-Ship Sail Freight Service to New Ports (on-shipping from an existing Apollonia docking site): Rockaways, Queens (via the schooner Deliverance from Red Hook, Brooklyn)
On-Ship Sail Freight Service from New Ports (on-shipping from to existing Apollonia ports): St. Malo, Brittany, France (via the schooner Grain de Sail I to all Apollonia ports)
These expansions of sail freight service opened new port nodes and made it possible for businesses, organizations, and individuals in those ports to participate in the existing Schooner Apollonia sail freight network, which has now expanded to include approximately 30 proven ports of call, as well as an international sail freight linkage via the French company Grain de Sail.
Tangibly Growing the Regional Sustainable Logistics Network – Shoreside
A key part of the Fellow’s mission is to expand shoreside linkages to and from the water’s edge that are more sustainable than baseline fossil fuel-powered vehicles. Replacing links in the network in New York that ties into the existing Schooner Apollonia riverine network helps to “green the branches out from the trunk” that has been established.
Germantown to Hudson electric truck Shore Angel
Ossining dock to brewery EV convoy of Shore Angels
Clinton Corners to Poughkeepsie EV Shore Angels
Kingston to Poughkeepsie Shore Angel Poughkeepsie dock to breweries EV Shore Angels
Newburgh dock to brewery cargo bike route
West Haverstraw dock to brewery cargo bike route
Marine Park Brooklyn to Brooklyn Bridge Park EV Shore Angel
Coxsackie to Hudson EV Shore Angel
Gowanus to Brooklyn Bridge Park cargo bike
Vulture Carter Long Island City to Greenpoint cargo bike
Vulture Carter Greenpoint dock to brewery and restaurant cargo bike route
Gowanus to Red Hook cargo bike Vulture Carter
Red Hook to Gowanus cargo bike
Vulture Carter Brooklyn Navy Yard to Greenpoint cargo bike
cargo bike route Brooklyn Bridge Park to Red Hook
Proving these potential replacement means/conveyances even in a pilot mode helps to build the muscle memory, institutional memory, and community necessary to further develop and make the more sustainable methods permanent. Cargo bikes and trailers, a collective of cargo bike enthusiasts, a biodiesel truck, and a variety of electric vehicle drivers all contributed to building out these links, many of them falling under the Shore Angel volunteer program developed by the Fellow in coordination with the Schooner Apollonia team.
Growing and proving new potential cargoes as suitable for transport within the existing/growing sustainable shipping network in the region is another ongoing goal of the Fellow. The following cargo types moved through the regional sustainable shipping system centered on Schooner Apollonia for the first time in 2023 due to the Fellow’s efforts:
Cross Branding
Lumber
Sunflower oil
Kegs of beer
Cheese
Cutting boards
Compost soil
Air compressors
Rowboats
Bat boxes
Nuts
Black currant juice
Field salt
Sail cloth
Meat sticks
Kelp paper
Granola
Upcycled soap
Soda
Bread bricks
Norwegian crackers
Dried black currants
Compost inputs
Double sail freight coffee
Marinara sauce
Wind Shipped
Demonstrating the ability of the system to move goods (whether as a new typology/form or as a new market segment) successfully helps to facilitate further future growth of cargoes in those categories. Broadening the conception of what goods “work” provides a beach head for new prospective shipping partners who may not have seen themselves as eligible or relevant previously.
Planning for Regional Linkages to International Sustainable Shipping Ventures
Connecting the existing regional sustainable shipping network into the growing global network of international sustainable shipping is a continuing priority for the Fellow. The following efforts went into building greater linkages and helping to anticipate expected increases in interconnection at the Port of NY and NJ.
Grain de Sail – Multiple meetings, correspondence, and collaborations with Matthieu and Pierre from French sail freight company Grain de Sail regarding growing cargo on-shipping, developing backhaul cargo for Grain de Sail II.
Timbercoast – In-depth correspondence with Cornelius and Torsten from Timbercoast out of Germany regarding first-ever sail freight docking logistics at New York in early 2024 for the ship Avontuur.
VELA – Meeting and correspondence with Michael from the VELA team regarding NY Harbor/NJ coordination and mutual growth of cargoes with the French sail freight venture.
TOWT – Communications with Guillaume from TOWT regarding schedule of upcoming port calls to NYC.
Sail Cargo – Discussions with Alejandra at Sail Cargo regarding docking, cargo, and logistics engagement opportunities with New Jersey ports, backhaul cargo to South America.
International Wind Ship Alliance – Discussions with Gavin from the International Windship Alliance regarding overall uptake on wind shipping, policy, and attendance at meeting of IWSA North America chapter.
Wind Support NYC – Meetings with Laurent and Laurent regarding international sail freight engagement with New York Harbor, as well as the need for a green shipping incubator pier in NYC.
Christiaan de Beukeler – Met with author of Trade Winds book, conversations regarding international sail freight.
Consultation/Planning on Decarbonizing Goods Transport Systems
The Fellowship provided a public-facing position that community members sought out for more thought and leadership on decarbonizing systems and the movement of goods across a wide range of spaces. The following list is illustrative and not comprehensive; there have been many, many instances where the role has helped to focus, catalyze, or advance ideas for decarbonizing transport of goods at multiple levels.
REV X – Ongoing discussions seeking opportunities to utilize cargo bike/pedicab transport services in New York City.
Merchants of Ellenville, NY – Discussions with Ulster County Economic Development and sustainability officials, as well as APA NY Metro Chapter leadership, regarding piggybacking freight usage of UCAT bus system to connect Kingston, Ellenville, and hamlets in between and obviating the need for multiple duplicative fossil fuel-powered vehicular trips.
City of Kingston – Discussions with Julie Noble, sustainability lead, regarding the possibility of a ferry connecting Rhinecliff Amtrack station with Kingston (potentially chartering solar vessel Solaris) and the need for a connector trolley up from Rondout into rest of Kingston.
Discussions with NY Harbor tug boat company contact about carbon limits and means of decarbonizing maritime systems.
Creations Therrien – Discussions about finding alternate low carbon transport methods for live edge slabs for a furniture making company.
Zuzu’s Petals – Discussions regarding decarbonizing compost disposal processes for a floral business.
Principles GI Coffee House – Discussions and planning regarding decarbonizing delivery of baked goods on a daily basis via alternate means such as cargo bikes instead of fossil fuel-powered vans.
Brad on human electric bike
Development of Further Decarbonizing Systems
Application for Grant – Park Slope Civic Council – Effort to grow and fund the Vulture Carting cooperative of cargo bike enthusiasts that have grown up at Principles GI Coffee House.
Discussions with Pacific Northwest Individual regarding possible start of sail freight efforts in greater Puget Sound area.
NYC Financial District – East Side Resiliency Plan – Attend meetings and provide input suggesting the creation/incorporation of a green shipping incubator pier in Lower Manhattan.
Blue Highways RFEI – Speaking with multiple parties about the need to increase participation and engagement on the effort to transfer more freight to waterborne means in New York City with sustainable last mile.
Blue Highways Dock Prototype
Please support the Sustainable Logistics Fellow and the important work of the Center for Post Carbon Logistics with a contribution.
You Made It Happen! The Center for Post Carbon Logistics Achieves Fundraising Goal
Meet the Andrus Sustainable Logistics Fellow Apollonia Supercargo Brad Vogel. Brad has been at the forefront of developing an alternate green logistics framework in the NY region since 2019, and we are excited to see him going full time on the sustainable shipping and logistics front. He will start the fellowship in June of this year.
The Center for Post Carbon Logistics (C4PCL) has met its fundraising goal for the Erik Andrus Sustainability Fellowship. So many of you helped make that happen – and the C4PCL, the Schooner Apollonia, and all the organizations and businesses that will benefit from Brad’s work, could not be more grateful!
Brad Aboard Apollonia The new Fellow will help Apollonia and other sustainable ventures in the Hudson Valley and New York Harbor grow a robust regional green logistics network. Building that network will reduce emissions in communities in the Hudson Valley and New York City.
You can can continue to support the new Andrus Fellowship and the mission of the Center for Post Carbon Logistics. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation here . If you don’t require a receipt you can donate by check here.
Some background:
The Erik Andrus Sustainable Regional Logistics Fellowship is a project of The Center for Post Carbon Logistics. The position is named for Erik Andrus, the rice farmer who created the Vermont Sail Freight vessel Ceres and inspired many regional “make-sustainability-real” efforts. As such the Coordinator will emphasize practical, day-to-day work, but also fundraising and meeting with various governmental and commercial entities, toward these goals but also emphasize sharing of information and building of community to aid in the overall effort.
Vermont Sail Freight Vessel Ceres
The Andrus Fellow (coordinator) will initiate, support, and develop a sustainable logistics network that links manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers, key components of sustainable transport supply chain on the Hudson, the New York State canal system, New York Harbor, and coastal New York. This sustainable logistics network will reduce fossil fuel use and carbon emissions from the transportation of goods and people throughout the region.
Schooner Apollonia is America’s only sustainable sail freight vessel, operating on the Hudson River and in New York Harbor. Over the past three years, Apollonia has shipped over a hundred thousand pounds of goods by wind, reducing regional emissions. Apollonia has made something clear: taking action to build toward a more sustainable post-carbon approach to logistics is possible in our region. Even if the initial steps are small, we need to act.
Schooner Apollonia
Inspired by Apollonia’s work, it’s time to take the next step toward greater regional impact – with a full-time fellow dedicated to sustaining and growing tangible, feasible low carbon transport projects. Your tax-deductible donation to the Center for Post Carbon Logistics will support the hiring of the Andrus Sustainability Fellow to maintain and grow the expanding regional green logistics network that Apollonia has helped pioneer.
Trade Route
In the first year, the Fellow will serve the Schooner Apollonia in expanding and strengthening the logistical backbone of its sustainable sail freight network of distribution, storage, transport, and fulfillment services, while also providing support to a select group of regional low/no carbon first and last mile logistics companies, producers, purveyors, wholesalers, retailers, and end users.
Specific tasks will include but may not be limited to:
Documenting, improving, and expanding Apollonia’s existing trade routes
Providing outreach and interpretation of Apollonia’s mission through virtual, customer venues, and “on dock” events.
Coordinating with other decarbonization efforts (both high profile and/or small-scale) across a range of prospective community-centered and commercial ventures
Analyzing and greening every logistical input to and output from the Apollonia’s existing trade routes with over 100 shipping partners.
Being the point of contact for the 20+ existing docking partners (private, municipal, and non-profit), the hundreds of individual customers, low no carbon first and last mile logistics providers, and thousands of supporters.
Although initially focused on wind-powered vessels, all practicable methods of eliminating fossil fuel-powered transport will be a priority. The coordinator will also promote solar vessels, live/electric cargo bicycles and trailers, as well as electric, biofuel and hydrogen powered vehicles, and will participate in the development of a regional network of linked low/no-carbon businesses, organizations, and institutions, and the establishment of resilient regional micro-hubs (ranging from moderate-scale ports and required infrastructure, depots and warehouses, and partnerships with on-call green transport support networks).
The long-term aim is to develop a regenerative regional for profit/not for profit hybrid cooperative logistics provider that takes on and continues the work of the fellowship. The goal of both the fellowship and the emergent entity is the same: to create and promote real, practical, resilient change, to build tangibly toward a future of an operational post carbon logistics with end-to-end management of specific services, a vital part of maritime based supply chain management.
During the initial year of the fellowship, the coordinator will liaise with the Director of The Center for Post Carbon Logistics and the Captain of Schooner Apollonia on a regular basis. The role, in the first year, reflecting the work required for coordinating, executing, and improving Apollonia’s existing logistics and growing the regional sustainability network. Thank you for supporting this important position, program, and its outcome.
Copywrite 2023 The Center for Post Carbon Logistics
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This handbook is not a comprehensive guide to Sail Freight operations, but simply a collection of experience gained recently during the Sail Freight Revival. It is hoped that this guide will aid in understanding the functioning of sail freight operations, but relies on perspective sail freight operators to be experienced sailors. The advice in this work does not constitute an exhaustive or direct set of procedures, but points the way to developing your own. No part of this manual can be used directly without adaptation to local circumstances, and does not constitute legal, business, investment, or financial advice.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Rondout past and future
This work does not constitute an exhaustive or direct set of procedures, but points the way to developing your own plans for resilient small ports. No part of this publication can be used directly without adaptation to local circumstances, and does not constitute legal, business, investment, or financial advice.
Rondout Riverport 2040 proposes a pragmatic and prosperous vision for the near future with a transformed port, boasting a shore lined with leading-edge and heritage maritime commerce that profit and engage while allowing for an equitable transition beyond fossil fuels.
Rondout Riverport will offer more capacity, be significantly more compact, and more resilient than the current patchwork of land uses found on today’s waterfront. The mission of tomorrow’s port is the post carbon maritime transport of goods and people up and down the Hudson River and beyond. Riverport is designed to attract shipping, distribution, commerce, food processing, and craft businesses. The result: a regenerative working waterfront — a gateway to the Hudson Valley and world.
The port’s versatility will depend on the linking of its economic opportunities with environmental restoration, sustainable commerce, and training centers. This multi-generational project will also be a source of inspiration for broader long-term action on climate change.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This handbook is not a comprehensive guide to Sail Freight operations, but simply a collection of experience gained recently during the Sail Freight Revival. It is hoped that this guide will aid in understanding the functioning of sail freight operations, but relies on perspective sail freight operators to be experienced sailors. The advice in this work does not constitute an exhaustive or direct set of procedures, but points the way to developing your own. No part of this manual can be used directly without adaptation to local circumstances, and does not constitute legal, business, investment, or financial advice.
Title Page Image courtesy of the University of Washington Freshwater and Marine Image Bank.
Introduction And Scope
This small book isn’t designed to be a complete manual of everything you need to know about Sail Freight: That would be a volume of several gross register tons, and completely unreadable. Instead, this is designed as an introductory How-To of the practical elements of Sail Freight. Once you have started to understand the regulations, practicalities, and the basics of navigation, this volume will begin to be useful. Hopefully, this is the tool you read between understanding the theory and buying a boat, to clear up the otherwise difficult portions of making a sail freight business function. When looking at Sail Freight, just knowing how to sail isn’t enough. You have to know how to get cargo back and forth to the docks, how to recruit cargos, be your own broker, and more. Understanding Coast Guard and state regulations is critical, alongside many other practical concerns you’ll find mentioned in this booklet. This tool is designed to help guide you through the practical decisions necessary to be successful, and isn’t going to help you learn to sail, or handle cargo, or other challenges. While this may point out gaps which need to be filled in your knowledge, it is hoped that closing those gaps before you begin will save a lot of headache, money, and (possibly) lives, in the long term.
