TRES HOMBRES AND THE SAIL CARGO MOVEMENT
An engineless sailing ship is proving that there are alternatives to the heavily polluting mega-freighters that are slowly but steadily causing irreparable damage to the oceans’ eco systems. Tres Hombres is a 105ft (32m) brigantine that has sparked a movement that has inspired a large number of similar projects around the world.
In mid-March 2021 the helmsman of an extremely large container vessel was distracted for a moment and buried the ships’ bow deep into the side of the Suez Canal while its stern swung round and jammed itself against the other shore. For nearly a week the vessel blocked the passage of hundreds of similar sized vessels laden with tens of thousands of containers packed with goods made in China or Middle Eastern oil, bound for Europe.
In a blink of an eye the world could see Europe’s dependence on this 193km (120-mile) long canal and the unending stream of ships passing through it. It begs the question: do we really need those consumer goods and all the oil to power the thousands of lorries that deliver them?
A much simpler question is whether we really need all that cargo, most of which
