4 minute read
Connecting communities
CONNECTING COMMUNITIES ACROSS OCEANS BY SAIL
WORDS ELLIE STROHM
Powered by the wind and a web of passionate
people, New Dawn Traders is an experimental business working with sail cargo vessels to import delicacies from across the Atlantic and along European coastlines, pollution-free. It shows what is possible from the raw, human ingredients of passion, drive and a desire to change things for the good of people and planet.
New Dawn Traders is building new models of trade that put people and planet first. Harking back to a bygone era, New Dawn Traders bridges the gap between small producers and customers by building relationships with distant farmers to bring ethically produced, high-quality produce to the UK with a carbon footprint that is close to zero.
With a growing network of ships, sailors, farmers, producers, and ‘port allies,’ New Dawn Traders’ mission has been to cut the supply chain down to its vital parts to allow more transparency for customers and fairer prices for farmers and consumers.
Alex Geldenhuys, founder, and director of New Dawn Traders says, “our journey is a symbolic one, playing our part in the global movement to bringing food trade to a human scale and consumerism to a conscious level.”
She adds that, with this model, farmers and producers pass their cargo to the crew of ship, which is then passed directly from crew to buyer when the ship arrives at port. At its destination, ‘port allies’ encourage coastal communities to pre-order products from the ships and set up events at the docks to celebrate the full process and the cultural significance of the cargo when the ship arrives.
Whether it’s a single bottle of olive oil or rum or several tonnes of goods ranging from chocolate to nuts, or to wine, New Dawn Traders is encouraging people to invest in the creation of a sustainable shipping economy by reconsidering their buying patterns. Alex’s philosophy is to encourage people to buy in advance, in bulk and to collect their goods themselves, from the ship.
In terms of risk, the voyage costs and those for storage, packaging and distribution are saved, or shared with the community. Alex says that this makes it possible for New Dawn Traders to pay farmers and producers a fair price, whilst charging buyers a fair cost for the products.
Nowadays, Alex runs the operation from her home at Argal Farm in rural Cornwall. But her inspiration for the venture arose from the travels of her twenties – hitching lifts on sail boats from her homeland South Africa to the Caribbean and South America.
Along the way she was inspired by the resilience she observed in local food movements but also touched by the rich cultural exchange and celebration that comes through sharing the fruits of our land with others. Her vision was to bring this human-to-human connection between producer and consumer to international supply chains without causing harm to the planet.
New Dawn Traders officially began in 2013. While working as a chef on the ship Tres Hombres, Alex sailed back with their first cargo - a single barrel of rum from the Dominican Republic. It was the first sail-shipped rum barrel to be landed in the UK for nearly 100 years. The rum’s journey ended when it was blended, bottled and sold as New Dawn rum in the Cornish town of Falmouth.
To Alex, and many others who have joined the sail cargo movement, clean transport is the missing link in our food systems. She says that many allegedly sustainable or ethical goods are transported on ships that pollute the air and sea and are a big contributor to
climate change*.
Whilst Alex acknowledges that sail cargoes are likely to remain limited by their logistical challenges, because there are only a relatively small number of vessels undertaking a limited number of voyages in the more benign seasonal weather, she is confident in the growth of the sector.
New Dawn Traders is now one of more than 70 shippers that are part of the International Windship Association which was established to help the sector collaborate on initiatives which can help to make windpowered shipping more economically viable.
Currently, New Dawn Traders is co-creating the Sail Cargo Alliance (SCA) to support a new and growing community interested in shipping ethical cargo under sail. It is a collaboration of ship owners, brokers and producers and anyone interested in working together in a healthy transport culture.
“Beyond building viable trade for these sailing vessels, the SCA is committed to setting the highest standards of ethics across the supply chain,” says Alex.
Alex recognises that New Dawn Traders plays a role in inspiring change and enhancing understanding of sustainable shipping practices.
“We might not be the solution to how everything is shipped in the world, but we can make people think about what they’re buying and how it’s getting here. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless. But we can all do something. We don’t need one solution to everything, we need a thousand solutions that can exist simultaneously.”
Alex adds, “Twenty years ago, buying organic was seen to be a bit ‘hippy’, but that has gone mainstream now along with buying fair trade and recycling. Understanding the impact of transporting goods is the next frontier.”
W newdawntraders.com W sailcargoalliance.org @newdawntraders
* According to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), shipping is responsible for 90% of world trade and accounts for 3% of man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, burning 5 million barrels of fossil fuel per day.
