TRADESAILER & CPCL Collaboration

Bay State Sail Freight is thrilled to announce a collaboration with the TradeSailer Project and the Center for Post Carbon Logistics to complete the design of the TradeSailer 120. This 39 foot ketch is designed for exactly the work Bay State Sail Freight is setting out to do, with a capacity of 9 pallets, a crew requirement of just two people, and an onboard crane capable of lifting up to 550 pounds at a time.

This design journey started in November with design requirements which had been refined over five years of study and careful thought, when the Bay State Sail Freight crew got in touch with Catran Naval Architects and got down to negotiating a contract for the vessel’s development. By December, the contract was signed, first payment had been made, and the design process got under way.

A unique part of the contract is that after ten licenses to build have been purchased, the design will be released into the public domain for use by any and all sail freight projects worldwide. With Small Island Developing States (SIDS), offshore island communities, farmers’ cooperatives, and dozens of other groups able to benefit from the use of small, inexpensive, but highly capable sail freighters, this is a massive barrier to entry which can be removed through these types of collaborations. 

In July, the Center for Post Carbon Logistics generously supported both Bay State Sail Freight and the TradeSailer Project by paying the outstanding design costs for the TradeSailer 120. This will significantly reduce the time until the design is shipyard ready, as well as the time between Bay State Sail Freight raising a seed round of funding and starting construction of our first vessel. We greatly appreciate the support of the Center for Post Carbon Logistics and the TradeSailer Project as we prepare to decarbonize and decongest coastal transportation!