One of the biggest challenges in coffee’s fight for carbon neutrality is transportation. Coffee often goes from its place of origin to the importer/exporter, to the roastery, and may cross oceans many times to do so. They typically travel by container ship on enormous tankers that burn fossil fuels and are seen as something of a necessary evil in the global coffee trade.
But one coffee exporter in Brazil is combining historic history with newfangled technology to create an environmentally cordial alternative. Fortaleza Organic Farm (FAF) will now transport coffee by sailboat powered by wind and solar energy.
This is a continuation of FAF’s commitment to sustainability in coffee production. As part of Sprudge’s Special Projects section, we featured FAF and Felipe Croce’s efforts to bring regenerative practices to a Brazilian farm. As part of its latest venture, FAF has established cooperation with a French importing company Belco coffee— who have been bringing coffee and cocoa by sailboat for some time now — and an eco-transport company TOWTwho will operate the ship. Together they will ship coffee via Artemis, a “sail ship powered by solar and wind energy,” according to an Instagram post by FAF announcing the partnership. According to the post, Artemis is completely carbon-free.
While sustainability is at the heart of this initiative, there are also knock-on benefits. FAF notes that with this move it is no longer dependent on larger shipping companies that caused delays “100% [their] exports” for a given year.
Sailboats are becoming an increasingly considered mode of transportation for those concerned about sustainability. With Belco, Cornwall-based Modern Dawn Traders imports coffee, olive oil and panela sugar, all by wind-powered sailboat.
The main disadvantage of this type of transport is cargo capacity. While established tankers can carry about 38,000 tons, TWOT ships can only carry a miniature fraction of this amount, about 1,100 tons. Scale then becomes an issue. Could a larger fleet, or perhaps even larger eco-ships, create a viable path to more sustainable trade on a much larger scale? Still, it’s a promising start to addressing one of the biggest sustainability issues facing coffee.
