Keel laid for Neoline’s first sailing cargo ship

Neoline Armateur, together with RMK Marine and partners, has held a keel-laying ceremony for the first sailing roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) vessel NEOLINER ORIGIN.

After the contract came into effect in January 2023 and several months of detailed design studies, the construction of the NEOLINER ORIGIN, a sail RoRo cargo ship specialized in the transport of rolling and oversized freight, officially started on November 8 at RMK Marine Shipyard in Tuzla.

While the steel cutting initiated the production of sheets and the actual construction of the ship, the laying of the first block or keel-laying marks the beginning of the assembly of the ship’s hull on the shipyard slipway.

The NEOLINER ORIGIN will be equipped with nearly 3000 square meters of sail and two foldable Solidsail carbon masts of 76-meter height manufactured by Chantiers de l’Atlantique, retractable anti-drift plans made by Fouré Lagadec, and equipped with a weather routing system developed by D-ICE Engineering.

According to Neoline, thanks to these innovative technologies and adopting a commercial speed of 11 knots, NEOLINER ORIGIN could achieve fuel savings of up to 80% to 90%, resulting in a reduction of associated greenhouse gas emissions.

The launch of the ship is planned for December 2024, and its delivery is scheduled for June 2025 in Turkey.

The first rotation of the NEOLINER ORIGIN will take place in July 2025 between the ports of Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Baltimore, and Halifax.

“The laying of this first block represents a very important step for us, as the first NEOLINER ORIGIN begins to exist, and we see it taking shape day after day. Since November, the technical team of Neoline Armateur, assisted by Schulte Marine Concept, closely follows the cutting and the first assemblies of the sheets.

“We are pleased with the quality of the work provided by RMK Marine and its fruitful cooperation with all technical partners, especially Mauric, Chantiers de l’Atlantique, and Bureau Veritas. We can feel how each participant is passionately involved in the project and is making every effort to create an extraordinary sailing ship, aiming to offer an almost decarbonized, industrial shipping in line with logistics standards,” said Jean Zanuttini, President of Neoline.

Upon completion of its construction, NEOLINER ORIGIN will leave Tuzla to reach Saint-Nazaire and, at the end of June/beginning of July 2025, will perform its first rotation between Saint-Nazaire and the East Coast of the United States (Halifax/Baltimore), with two stops at Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.

This new transatlantic route will provide shippers who have chosen Neoline with an industrial and competitive transportation service while being as decarbonized as possible and offering new capabilities in terms of types of cargo (rolling and oversized freight) as well as destinations, noted Neoline.

Created in 2021 by Neoline Développement, Neoline Armateur is the shipowning company that will finance and operate the first NEOLINER ORIGIN vessel.

Neoline Armateur is owned by CMA CGM, ADEME Investissement, Neoline Développement, Corsica Ferries and Louis Hardy SAS.