All throughout the weekend, I've been on the edge of my seat.

First an e-mail from my boss Maria telling me, that Tres Hombres is moving fast! We can expect her during the weekend. Then a phone call from deckie Jonas, they slowed down in the middle of Kattegat, no wind, they will be here in the middle of next week. And then Monday, suddenly a text from the chef on board Giulia, they are almost here!

This is how it is to work with Fairtransport. It is a bit unpredictable, because, well… They move when the winds blow. Several people have looked at me with mild desperation and disbelief in their eyes, at the mere thought of not knowing when to expect delivery, and although it sounds like a logistical nightmare to have a fluid ETA, allow me to make the argument that it is the opposite. When we can't participate in the ever faster moving treadmill of capitalistic supply and demand, when everything is not just a 'click' on a computer away, we are set free. There is no truck driver being pushed to drive faster and ignore resting hours, no dependence on fossil fuels, and no company deadline to reach. The process of getting goods becomes fluent and independent. It's not up to us, we place our trust in the sails of an engineless vessel. What freedom, that is! 

Soils and sails 

We import natural wines from France. The importance of transparency, when making and selling natural wine cannot be overstated. Natural wine is a grounded messenger of the soils, every drop of wine comes from a certain place and tells a story of biodiversity. The juice comes from a plant that has roots deep in the soil, and it has been worked by people with intention. It's all about this connection between roots and humans. 

The connection to the soil that the natural wines teach us about, made us realize that even though the wines are made with care and focus on the Earth, it doesn't matter if the wines are then shipped to Copenhagen in big diesel trucks. It removes the wine from the grounded process, and they become just another product on the German highway, stuck in the past, relying on dinosaur juice, and the infrastructure of capitalism. 

The reason we work with Fairtransport is to keep the connection to the soils that the natural wines conv. Sailing the wines to Copenhagen keeps them grounded, and it makes the wines better. And it makes us all better when we unload the cargo and meet each other and the wines. The awareness of the pure wonder that is getting a bottle of wine from a sunnier place on Earth to our cold corner is humbling and all too often taken for granted. One of the key values of working with Fairtransport is that this wonder is underscored.

The other big reason we work with Fairtransport is that it is necessary. It is necessary because we need to change how much space we take up in this world and how much disturbance we make. 

Transformational power in transportation 

I believe there is real transformational power in the stories of natural wine and Fairtransport is a very crucial part of that story. The 19,000 bottles of natural wine that are carried by winds and waves every year in the belly of Tres Hombres all the way from Brest in the Loire to Knippelsbro in the middle of Copenhagen, is a testament to the connection between humans and the Earth. When the crew of the ship and eager Copenhageners help each other unload the many bottles, I get a sense of something greater, something important, that we almost forgot, but are slowly retrieving by warm hands embracing each and every one of the 19,000 bottles with a label that guarantees that it is cargo under sail. 

The Earth is struggling with unbalanced human disturbance, and nature and culture have become dichotomies in our minds and our ways. Subsequently, environmentalism has become synonymous with the powerless feeling of being only destructive forces. Fairtransport shows another way, where humans are not only a destructive force to nature and where nature is not just a mass of materiality that we can use but a coworker, a friend and a bearer of culture. It connects us, both to each other when we greet the ships filled with old and new faces, but it also connects us to the Earth and the Sea, they are the ones doing in this relationship, we're just along for the ride 🙂

Do you enjoy reading our crew's adventures? Imagine being there when you enjoy our products at home!