Hoisting the sail, a supply chain podcast

In today’s episode, we are delighted to host James Rhodes, the Chairman, CEO, and Co-founder of Magnuss, a maritime technology firm. Rhodes brings over 30 years of experience in maritime shipping, renewable energy, investment banking, and management consulting. Magnuss delivers onboard systems that reduce fuel consumption and emissions for today's global shipping fleet. Rhodes joins us to talk about a technology called the Magnuss VOSSTM which stands for Vertically-variable Ocean Sail System.

The Magnuss VOSS is a mechanical sail that converts wind into forwarding thrust thereby augmenting ship propulsion. Similarly to the Flettner Rotor, the Magnuss VOSS relies on the Magnus Effect, which states that a rotating cylinder in a wind stream produces a force perpendicular to the wind direction. When wind hits the rotating cylinder it sets up a high and low-pressure difference and creates thrust roughly ninety degrees to the wind direction. A vessel sailing with the wind on the beam is therefore given maximum forward thrust from the spinning VOSS.

The idea is to have the sails act as a supplement to the ship’s installed engine power. This will increase fuel economy and reduce harmful emissions by harnessing the wind.
Join us to learn about how the VOSS addresses major issues in the shipping industry, namely energy consumption and environmental impact, and the mechanisms available to help ship owners finance the retrofit.
Magnuss is running until June 28 a funds raising campaign on Start Engine.

This week we welcome Dr Harilaos Psaraftis, a professor at the Technical University of Denmark.
He completed his undergraduate studies in Greece and received a diploma from the National Technical University of Athens. He later received two M.Sc. degrees from MIT, the first in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and the second in Shipping and Shipbuilding Management. Shortly after, he acquired his Ph.D. in Ocean Systems Operations Research from MIT and went on to work as an Associate Professor at the institution for a decade.

Psaraftis also served as CEO of the Piraeus Port Authority in the late ’90s to early 2000s. During this period, ports faced new challenges as international regulations for shipping were shifting. Psaraftis shares his experiences with us and provides commentary on changes he thinks we can expect to see in the way ports operate in the future.

His latest European Union project is AEGIS, which stands for Advanced, Efficient, and Green Intermodal Systems. It is a three-year project, and its objective is to design autonomous ships that will aid mainly intra-European maritime transport and short sea shipping. It will also design Europe's new sustainable and highly competitive waterborne logistics system. Not only does this initiative help Europe to move shipping from the roads to freight but it also serves as a model for other countries to follow suit and mobilize towards clean shipping.

In this episode, we discuss a variety of topics ranging from climate change to the role carbon taxes have in internalizing environmental externalities. Join us and get an insider on what a maritime shipping expert believes it will take to achieve a zero-carbon fueled shipping industry.

This week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a plan to invest $500 Million in Critical Offshore Wind Infrastructure.
This investment is proof that society recognizes offshore wind turbines have little in common with the historic windmills of The Netherlands.

However, a vast majority of maritime supply chain professionals still believe wind propulsion is an obsolete and unreliable technology, completely uncompetitive in today’s shipping framework.

This week's guest, Guillaume Le Grand, is challenging this sentiment though. Le Grand, the CEO and co-founder of TransOceanic Wind Transport, just announced that TOWT is constructing its first modern cargo ship.
The wind-powered ship will have a 1,100-ton goods capacity and will be designed to spend 320 days at sea per year, reducing emissions by more than 90%, i.e. save 3,000 tons of CO2 per year.
Le Grand is an innovator that is proving that we can modernize old technology to satisfy our shipping demands, not to mention reaping the benefits of decreased emissions.

It is important to note that these innovations are being supported by government programs recognizing the shipping industry is changing. NYC DOT has announced the Blue Highways Program, a commitment to encouraging the use of NYC’s waterways to move goods sustainably into and around the City. This new dependency on marine facilities for freight transport is a window of opportunity for maritime professionals to be a part of the green shipping movement.

Grain de Sail is a French company charting new waters. We first learned about them in 2018 during one of their exploratory visits to New York and have watched them grow from fantasy to reality to a company to watch.

In our latest episode, we speak to their marketing director, Stefan Gallard, and ask him to explain how the singular dream of two twin brothers grew into a 72 foot cargo sailboat, coffee refiner, chocolate manufacturer and organic wine exporter within a few years.

Highlights of our conversation include Stefan telling us how, despite four weeks crossing the choppy Atlantic, Grain de Sail’s December 2020 maiden voyage to New York successfully delivered 15,000 bottles of French wine without a scratch. We also sail beyond the buzzwords and learn why running a sustainable business is one of their core principles from the first wine harvest to the last mile of delivery.

The big takeaway from this interview is that with vision, elbow grease, smart finances and the right partners, cargo sailboats definitely have a place in global maritime trade and may soon lead the pack to incorporate wind propulsion in many new builds.

The SailCargo project has been on our radar since we launched the podcast; we are delighted to receive Danielle Doggett, the CEO and co-founder of SailCargo Inc, on our 15th episode.
Danielle, calling us from AstilleroVerde, the jungle shipyard in Punta Morales, Costa Rica, tells us more about the construction of Ceiba, a cargo vessel designed to carry 250 tons of goods.
Creating a shipyard from scratch in the jungle, bringing foreign investment in one of the poorest regions of Costa Rica are two of the many challenges overcome by Danielle and her team - an amazing and so inspiring project.

Thank you Danielle, Lynx and John for making this live!