Our vision

Background and challenges

In a highly competitive global trading market, and in the face of accelerating environmental and regulatory requirements, maritime transport must undertake an unprecedented effort to adapt its operating methods. Maritime transport – which accounts for rounded to 3% of GHG emissions – is particularly concerned by the reduction of pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions, especially as the fuels used today are highly polluting, notably due to their sulfur dioxide (SOX) content . Faced with this challenge, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set itself the goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the shipping sector to zero by 2050. To this end, it has introduced increasingly stringent limitations, notably via its EEDI (= effective 2013) and CII (effective 2023) indicators. At European level too, new standards are emerging, such as the integration of the maritime sector into the ETS system (carbon credit) and the implementation of FuelEUMaritime.

Faced with these regulations, as well as rising oil prices, shipowners are faced with a considerable increase in their fuel budget, which will weigh more and more heavily on transport prices. Solutions for adapting conventional ships (gigantism, scrubbers, methanol, etc.) are costly, limited and, in some cases, generate new forms of pollution. With 21st century technologies at its core, propulsion is an efficient and immediately available response to the need to adapt maritime transport to this profoundly changing context. This is the solution chosen by NEOLINE, based on the use of clean, inexhaustible energy. With sails as its main propulsion system, NEOLINE is moving towards zero-emission transport with stable costs.

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Our CSR commitments

NEOLINE is a signatory of the Charte Bleue d’Armateurs de France and has begun a labeling process with Green Marine Europe.
NEOLINE is working with the Windship association to develop an open labeling framework applicable to commercial vessels powered mainly by diesel engines.

Our technological choices

NEOLINE has opted for wind propulsion, based on the one hand on the inexhaustible, free and clean energy of the wind, and on the other on innovative and industrially mature technologies, which today benefit from considerable advances in performance and flexibility of use.

This propulsion method, combined with a reduction in operating speed to 11 knots, halves the energy required to cover a nautical mile.

Optimized management of the energy mix and perfected meteorological routing, designed and implemented by NEOLINE and its partners, enable us to drastically reduce fossil fuel consumption and associated emissions, while ensuring regular service.

As for the use of mechanical propulsion and complementary conventional energies to secure commercial speed, ensure port maneuvers and produce on-board electricity, NEOLINE plans to eventually replace them with renewable energies, thus moving towards 0-emission transport.

Our ambition

In parallel with the commissioning of its first vessel, NEOLINE is developing a fleet vision with :

Funding is currently being sought for a Neoliner Origin sistership which, also positioned on the pilot route, will double its frequency and eventually ensure a departure every 2 weeks from St-Nazaire.
The ongoing development of larger, more specialized ship series, to open up new low-carbon lines and gain scale effect.
Continued R&D efforts to incorporate operational feedback into future designs, minimize the use of fossil fuels and move closer to zero-emission operation.

The sailing sector

NEOLINE is one of the pioneers of a particularly dynamic French ecosystem around wind propulsion.
Equipment manufacturers, new and historic shipowners, designers, academics: many players are committed today to developing wind propulsion applications and enabling it to take its rightful place in the energy transition of all ship fleets.

This young sector currently accounts for over XXX jobs in France, and is being deployed on more and more ships (XX by 2024). A growing number of historical players are recognizing that using wind to propel ships is undoubtedly the most promising option for decarbonizing maritime activities.

Most of the French companies in the wind-power sector are members of the Windship association, and are working together to bring the emergence of these solutions to the attention of decision-makers and the general public. These actions are essential if today’s and tomorrow’s regulations are to take into account the particularities of this propulsion mode, and recognize its unique advantages in terms of independence and absence of conflicts of use.

At the international level, too, players and solutions are emerging and federating, this time within the International Windship Association (IWSA), of which the Windship association represents the French branch.
The use of wind for power generation is a matter of course today, and tomorrow it will also be for commercial ship propulsion!

White paper

To find out more about the wide range of solutions and uses for wind propulsion, feel free to consult the White Paper published in 2022 by the Windship association and ADEME.