Sailing Cargo Vessel Prepares for Maiden Trip

Sustainable shipping company Fairtransport informs it will bring a second engineless sailing cargo vessel into service September 26, 2015.

The wooden ship, Nordlys, which is Norwegian for “Northern Light,” is a ketch rigged trawler built in 1873 at the Isle of Wight. After years of sailing cargo around the Norwegian coast, the ship was handed over to Fairtransport by its former owner, Johan Sande.

A two-year refit project began in September 2013 at the old navy shipyard Willemsoord in Den Helder, where dozens of volunteers from around the world worked to prepare Nordlys to sail cargo without an engine in European waters.

Nordlys is the second sailing cargo vessel in Fairtransport’s fleet, following the company’s first ship, Tres Hombres, which has been transporting cargos of rum, chocolate, cocoa and coffee from the Caribbean to Europe since 2009. Nordlys will take over the European trade routes so Tres Hombres can circumnavigate the Atlantic Ocean twice a year to pick up cargo, Fairtransport said.

The Nordlys crew has been working on the interior of the ship. The first crew to sail her again after the refit will include a captain, an officer, a cook and six ordinary sailors/trainees. Lammert Osinga will captain Nordlys on her maiden voyage which will see the vessel sail a cargo of Tres Hombres Rum to Douarnenez, France.