New niche cargo and passenger venture has the wind in its sails

From 2022, French chocolatier Cemoi will be shipping the cocoa it uses to make its chocolate bars from Abidjan on the Ivory Coast to Le Havre, France, on board the first of a fleet of new sailing vessels built by Brittany-based Trans Oceanic Wind Transport (TOWT).

TOWT has been moving niche cargoes — such as coffee, organic wines and olive oil — around the French and European coast and across the English Channel and Atlantic for other small family-run businesses since it was set up in 2011.