From Le Havre, you can go to New York or Guadeloupe aboard a sailboat like no other

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After the Anemos, the Artemis, the second cargo sailboat of the transport company Towt (Transoceanic wind transport) was baptized in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), its home port, Thursday December 19, 2024after an inaugural voyage, between September and December, which took him from Vietnam to Reunion and Brazil.

The ship will welcome passengers for the first time when it departs for New York, Friday December 27. Four passengers will take place on the outward journey, two on the return journey.

This will be a first test, before the gradual opening of the passenger transport service. Fromhere June 2025all six cabins will be available for reservation.

From the transport of goods to that of passengers

“At the beginning of the project, passenger transport was not in our DNA,” confides Guillaume Le Grand, president and co-founder of Towt. Very quickly, people who supported the project told us that it was a shame that we were not proposing it. So we added cabins to the plan of the ship, it was done a bit like that, by talking to people. »

Thus, in 2025, the company will offer five routes open to passengers on the outward and/or return journey, the same as for the transport of goods:

Le Havre – New York
Le Havre – Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe)
Le Havre – São Sebastião (Brazil)
Le Havre – Puerto Barrios (Guatemala)
Le Havre – Santa Marta (Colombia)

“We will always go to places where we can load pallets,” says the founder. The Le Havre – New York route is the most regular. In 2025, ten round trips are already scheduled. It is necessary to plan around twenty days on the outward journey and 17 on the return journeyfollowing the winds.

Prices should vary between 150 and 200 euros per dayincluding catering, accommodation and internet connection. Towt has already recorded 1,000 pre-reservations on the passenger service.

Different from a cruise service

« This is not a cruise serviceinsists William the Great. As this is sail transport, departure dates may depend on weather conditions. People understand that if we want to decarbonize transport, we also have to adapt. Today we attract people who want to be part of a sailing adventure and cross the oceans with a low impact on the planet. »

Since August, Towt has had two vessels in operation, built on the same model. Back from New York, the Anemos is currently under construction in Concarneau for a technical stage. Each hassix double cabins of 12 m² : two are equipped with bunk beds and four, with single beds.

Construction of the third ship, the Atlantis, was launched in May at the Piriou shipyard in Vietnam. By mid-2027, Towt hopes to have a fleet of eight operational vessels, allowing more different routes to be undertaken, starting with Mexico from 2025-early 2026. “We are also thinking about Martinique , to routes in the Mediterranean, between North Africa and Europe,” indicates Guillaume Le Grand.

Also to be planned, occasionally, is a Vietnam-Europe crossing. “It is not a regular route, but we make the journey to bring the ship back to the area, until the end of construction, with an exit from the site approximately every three months. »

Registrations are currently being done on the website. Towt aims to create a real reservation platform next year.

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