Morgane Fouillet : “Neoline sails, a real challenge”

The first industrial-scale sailing cargo ship, Neoliner Origin, equipped with two SolidSail rigs developed by Chantiers de l’Atlantique and fitted with composite sails manufactured by Multiplast, will make its first commercial transatlantic crossing between Europe and North America in October 2025. Morgane Fouillet, composites project manager at Multiplast, looks back on this adventure, which aims to contribute to the decarbonisation of maritime transport.

Can you remind us how the Solidsail project came about?

This project was initiated by Chantiers de l’Atlantique almost ten years ago, with the aim of creating Solidsail rigging for cruise ships and cargo ships in order to reduce carbon emissions from maritime transport. Multiplast was involved in two ways: first, in the construction of mast sections, in collaboration with other Breton companies, now united under SolidSail Mast Factory, the company that produces these masts in its new factory in Lanester. Secondly, we manufactured all of the composite sails, of which there are two on Neoliner Origin. This ro-ro cargo ship left Turkey, where it was built, on 29 September to join Saint-Nazaire, before making its first commercial voyage to Halifax (Canada) and Baltimore (United States) via Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. For us, Neoline is a virtually completed project – although we obviously hope that other cargo ships of this type will be ordered in the future – and we have moved on to manufacturing identical sails for two Orient Express cruise ships, each equipped with three masts.

How were these sails developed?

We started six or seven years ago with a 20 m² sail, then tested another one on Jean Le Cam’s Imoca and then on Le Ponant, a small cruise ship, to arrive today at sails measuring 1,000 m². An initial mast/sail prototype was set up at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, where it served as a demonstrator before being installed on Neoliner Origin. There were inevitably many back-and-forth exchanges with Chantiers de l’Atlantique, but also with GSea Design for the dimensioning aspect and Ensta Bretagne for support on R&D issues. The challenge for Multiplast was both technological, even though these are materials – carbon, fibreglass and epoxy – and processes that we have a good command of, and economic, because although these sails are designed to last for twenty years, we had to ensure the budgetary viability of the project. As we did not compromise on the processes, we had to come up with a product that was simple to implement right from the design stage, and then be able to keep up with the pace of production. Since a sail consists of eleven panels, some of which are 20 metres long and 7 metres wide, we currently manufacture three sails per year, with the goal of increasing this to ten in the coming years. In a workshop where we make a lot of prototypes and where everything is constantly changing, it was a real challenge to integrate such mass production, to set aside a space and a pace in the midst of other unrelated projects, knowing that we demould one panel every week before starting on the next one. We had already done this type of production with Figaro 3 foils, but it took up much less space!

What does this project mean for Multiplast?

As I said, this is a long-term project, because when I talk about ten sails per year, I’m looking ahead to 2030-2035. This allows the company to have sustainable production over the long term and therefore visibility to potentially expand and dedicate a workshop to this production. We have already had to build an 8-metre high and 25-metre long building dedicated to painting the panels. Secondly, from a human resources perspective, it allows us to recruit new people into the company who do not necessarily have initial composite training. It is easier to integrate them into a controlled industrial project like this than to put them directly on an Imoca hull. It is also an attractive project, as more and more people want to work on projects that have meaning. Being involved in the manufacture of these sails means contributing to the decarbonisation of maritime transport, which is quite inspiring. I think that when Neoliner Origin completes its first crossing, the whole team will be very proud to have been part of something great. Finally, SolidSail has been an opportunity for us to make significant progress in terms of organisation, and today it is a showcase of our industrial expertise. The goal is for our other projects, including prototypes, to move towards this type of organisation.