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Sail-Powered Cargo Ships Scale Up

A new, much-bigger addition to the world's fleet of hybrid sail/diesel-powered commercial cargo ships.

Adze

• 2 min read
Aerial photograph of new modern cargo ship with two sets of vertical sails, in bright sunshine and blue water
Neoliner Origin approaching Baltimore. (Image courtesy of Port of Baltimore.)

About six months ago, we wrote about the debut of a hybrid sail/diesel-powered cargo ship, the Anemos, carrying high-value cargo from France to the USA. Anemos has since been joined by its sister ship, Artemis. Both ships, operated by the French company TOWT, are now sailing regularly across the Atlantic to ports in North and South America. You can track their locations in real time. Anemos and Artemis are not big ships compared to other modern cargo vessels, each being 81 metres long with a capacity of 1,080 tonnes of cargo carried on pallets.

Now another French company, Neoline1, has made an inaugural cargo run with a hybrid sail/diesel-powered ship with five times the capacity, the Neoliner Origin. This is a much bigger ship, 136 metres long, with a capacity of 5,300 tonnes. Neoliner Origin is a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship (known as a "ro-ro" in the maritime world), which is optimized to carry any cargo on wheels. In addition, the ship can also carry up to twelve passengers in six cabins.2

Neoliner Origin will operate on a route from France to Baltimore in the USA, with stops along the way in St. Pierre et Miquelon (French islands just off Newfoundland) and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The increased size of Neoliner Origin compared to the ships operated by TOWT means that the ship’s sail rig is commensurately taller, 76 metres. Consequently, the masts will lower partially to allow the ship to fit under bridges found at the entrances to some ports.

Modern hybrid sail/diesel cargo ship with its pair of sail masts lowered to allow passage under bridges.
Neoliner Origin with masts folded down. (Image courtesy of Neoline.)

One of the sail rigs sustained some damage on its inaugural run from France to North America, but this was reportedly fixed in St. Pierre.3 When new technology is deployed for the first time in real-world operating conditions, we should not be surprised that some aspect of the technology may need to be modified to cope.

Neoline hopes to build another ship of the same design to operate on the same route.

Modern, scaled-up, wind-powered cargo vessels that can successfully operate commercially is an encouraging sign. The technology for reducing the emissions from shipping is not only possible, but is in service.

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Reading

  1. “Neoliner Origin.” NEOLINE, accessed November 18, 2025. https://www.neoline.eu/en/.
  2. “Neoliner Origin – France's Neoline to deploy sailing Ro-Ro cargo ship on trans-Atlantic routes.” Baird Maritime, accessed November 18, 2025. https://www.bairdmaritime.com/shipping/dry-cargo/ro-ro/vessel-review-neoliner-origin-frances-neoline-to-deploy-sailing-ro-ro-cargo-ship-on-transatlantic-routes.​
  3. " Huge Cargo Sailing Ship Completes Voyage Across Atlantic." CleanTechnica, November 3, 2025. https://cleantechnica.com/2025/11/03/huge-cargo-sailing-ship-completes-voyage-across-atlantic/.

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