--- title: The Rise of Eco-Friendly Cargo Ships | TIME description: Shipping by sea is as vital to the global economy as it is destructive to the global environment. But new technologies—and old ones—can help make shipping easier on the planet. canonical: https://time.com/video/16sJ4Tnv/ og:title: The Rise of Eco-Friendly Cargo Ships og:description: Shipping by sea is as vital to the global economy as it is destructive to the global environment. But new technologies—and old ones—can help make shipping easier on the planet. og:url: https://time.com/video/16sJ4Tnv/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/16sJ4Tnv/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Rise of Eco-Friendly Cargo Ships twitter:description: Shipping by sea is as vital to the global economy as it is destructive to the global environment. But new technologies—and old ones—can help make shipping easier on the planet. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/16sJ4Tnv/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # The Rise of Eco-Friendly Cargo Ships > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: The Rise of Eco-Friendly Cargo Ships [Watch (HLS stream): The Rise of Eco-Friendly Cargo Ships](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/16sJ4Tnv.m3u8) (5:21)  _Published 2013-08-06. Shipping by sea is as vital to the global economy as it is destructive to the global environment. But new technologies—and old ones—can help make shipping easier on the planet._ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:40 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Live Feed Shows Baltimore Bridge Collapsing After Powerless Cargo Ship Rams Into Support Column](/video/Q1oTjJqQ/) ### Live Feed Shows Baltimore Bridge Collapsing After Powerless Cargo Ship Rams Into Support Column [The Cargo Ship Blocking the Suez Canal Is Now Partly Afloat, in the First Step to Clearing the Vital Waterway](/video/p11HY0Ol/) ### The Cargo Ship Blocking the Suez Canal Is Now Partly Afloat, in the First Step to Clearing the Vital Waterway [Know Right Now: Coast Guard Calls Off Search For Missing Cargo Ship](/video/KuBp1mcI/) ### Know Right Now: Coast Guard Calls Off Search For Missing Cargo Ship --- ## Transcript >> Now the main goal of this initiative is to change people's minds to make people aware about the emissions of cargo ships that the-- just the destruction those means of transportation do to the bulk. >> This traditional ship is on course to change the face of cargo shipping. The Fair Transport Company and others like it are reintroducing the use of wind to transport goods around the world. And this trend is part of a growing movement in green energy, like this ship that harnesses the energy of the sun through solar panels allowing it to travel across the globe without any carbon emissions. This rise in technological prowess has the goal to modernize and rethink how heavy polluting cargo ships navigate the sea. >> The Ecoliner is designed by Dykstra Naval Architects in Amsterdam who are investing a lot of time and money in the development of this hybrid ship which is gonna be an 8, 000 ton cargo ship, 130 meters long with foremast 60 meters high, with the [ unk ] which is used already on the Maltese Falcon which is also a product of the Dykstra Architects. We don't compete with this ship with the big container ships. But we want to show it's possible and if we can show it with this small ship, then a bigger ship also can do. >> The bigger ship is set for construction and will be sailing cargo on 2016. At present, over 20 companies are shipping without the help of an engine. Some tankers have even implemented the use of large kite sails that help produce oil consumption. Programs to advance these various methods of transport are being pushed by the European Union and several other countries around the world. >> The real big ships like super tankers, big [ unk ] ships and the huge container ships, they use up to a 150-- 200, 000 liters of heavy oil in the 24 hours which is just a crazy amount. I mean it's also the amount of cargo that they deliver is crazy. But how far do we want to go? Where do we want to grow? >> These sparkling lights presenting a small city are in fact the [ unk ] of tankers sitting in the middle of the Northern Sea at an anchor point. They're either waiting for enough space to enter their port of destination or playing the markets waiting for the goods they are carrying to increase in value. In either case, these tankers burn fuel through the night. Today 50, 000 cargo ships were being used to transport goods around the world resulting in over a billion tons of CO2 emissions or the equivalent to emissions produced by an industrialized country like Japan, the 6th most polluting country in the world. As cargo ships and technology catch up with tradition, the Tres Hombres serves as a beacon for cleaner shipping. >> Tres Hombres is really unique vessel. She's built by many volunteers and helped out building these icon of a new movement which is now active in about 10 countries already, but use the power of the wind. This is the main goal and Tres Hombres is the most beautiful all of them and built in a traditional way. So, if you also get the looks in all harbors and know that if something is attractive and nice then people come at us for business and so you get the interest also. -[ unk ]-- >> At the last leg of their 8- month journey from Europe to the Caribbean and back, the crew celebrated as they ride to their home port of [ unk ] in Holland. >> Everybody will have a share of rum with us to celebrate the arrival of the port transatlantic voyage of Tres Hombres. Let's enjoy the rum together. On many more voyages of Tres Hombres. >> The 25 tons of cargo was later unloaded in Amsterdam. This initiative is part of a growing trend in the shipping industry that strips on the idea of carbon [ unk ] minded consumers conscientious of the impact to that of season [ unk ] on the environment. Ultimately, this return of sailing to ship goods rekindles the concept of tradition with modern and efficient means of transportation as well as a sense of adventure. >> My favorite part of the travel is what I do right now, inform the boat, have the sun shining in my face, the ship going with a light breeze with 5 knots over the ocean carrying our 25 tons of cargo without noise, without [ unk ]-- ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Rise of Eco-Friendly Cargo Ships","description":"Shipping by sea is as vital to the global economy as it is destructive to the global environment. 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