The Avontuur and our Mission Zero

Yesterday’s freight sailing for tomorrow’s climate

Starting today begins the Global Climate Strike (September 20 – 27) where millions of people from all across the world will take to the streets for Greta Thunberg’s and our main concern: The fossil fuels must remain in the earth. Our communal AVONTUUR has already been implementing this demand for four years.

Of course, Greta Thunberg sailed across the Atlantic. Wind is the number one renewable energy source. Freight sailing was sacrificed a century ago to maximise profits. Now it comes back to support the climate fight.

Ecologically necessary, economically profitable

Captain Cornelius Bockermann started the Timbercoast project in 2014.  The AVONTUUR has crossed the Atlantic every year since 2016 to demonstrate that sail shipped goods is not only ecologically necessary but can also be economically profitable. 44 meters long and 114 dead weight tons against 400 meters long with 228,000 dead weight tons like the currently largest container giant, the MSC Gülsün – is this David versus Goliath fight promising? Yes! The requirement is a rethink on the part of the consumers: We don’t just have to buy more environmentally friendly – we have to buy much less. Only by turning away from the throwaway society can the transport of goods be truly reduced. AVONTUUR also sets sail for this awareness.

A big step for the largest transport division

Airplanes and trucks have long been the target of the climate-conscious public. But more than 90 percent of the international transport of goods is carried out by sea. In addition to reforms, we need drastic alternatives to help save a liveable climate.  Sailing for a better tomorrow, our communal AVONTUUR shows that it is possible.

For more information on the Global Climate Strike – Click HERE.

Photos by Luca Windolph.

We are getting better and better

With every new trip, we learn new things. The latest optimisations will take effect on our next voyage.  We are still in the process of planning our Voyage 5.

– Shorter travel time of five instead of nine months and thus considerably lowered operating costs.

– Utilization of transport capacity over the entire voyage. Until now, goods have been shipped primarily from the Caribbean and Central America to Europe, from West to East. For the future, a customer base must be built up which will also ensure full capacity utilisation on the way from East to West.

– Our own product line “AVONTUUR” will continually focus on sourcing fair and organic goods such as chocolate, salt, coffee, and rum that also tastes spectacular.

– Crew exchanges are to be organised in a climate-friendly way. Even on a trip shortened to five months, the crew must be changed. Up to now, the arrivals and departures of our crews have stood in the way of Mission Zero’s goal. Together with Teikei, an initiative is being planned that combines a social year at a coffee farm with an Atlantic crossing and a return crossing a year later on the AVONTUUR.

– With ANNY VON HAMBURG Timbercoast is managing a second traditional sailor. The three-master once complete and ready to sail would expand our project’s radius of action. The prelude to a “Mission Zero” fleet.