A typical cargo ship is massive—the largest is more than 1,300 feet long, or roughly the length of five Manhattan city blocks. But a startup called CargoKite is going in the other direction: Some of its “micro ships” could be nearly 10 times shorter.

The design, which is under development now, has another key difference. Instead of running on diesel fuel, it uses wind power. “Flying” nearly 1,000 feet above the ship, a large kite pulls the vessel through the water.

“With fossil-fuel powered vessels, the best way to decrease costs is to build larger vessels,” says Amelie Binder, cofounder and CEO of the Munich-based startup. “We have a technology that’s no longer fossil-fuel powered, and that breaks this cost model. We have very different unit economics.”

Right now, fuel is the biggest operating expense for shipping companies. By using wind power, CargoKite expects to reduce costs enough that “we can justify more cost building the vessels and still be economically feasible,” Binder says. Having a smaller cargo ship can make deliveries faster and be more flexible.

A company that needs to ship furniture or electronics or clothing might only need a single container, for example, or even less than a container load. From the perspective of, say, Ikea, a massive ship isn’t necessary. With a small vessel, it’s possible to enter ports that aren’t equipped for large cargo ships, making it possible to avoid delays from heavy shipping traffic. The smaller ships could also respond more nimbly to customers who want to make last-minute deliveries.

How the kite-powered design works

The kite taps into high-altitude winds that are steadier and stronger than the wind near the surface. The basic approach is similar to a kite used in kitesurfing, but at a larger scale. Cofounder Marcus Bischoff—who is both an engineer and a kitesurfer himself—had seen other designs that added kites to existing cargo ships. But on an existing ship, which isn’t optimized to use wind power, it’s only possible to make a small difference in emissions. Bischoff started thinking, What if I design a ship around a kite instead of the other way around, Binder says.

The new design has hydrofoils underneath it that help lift up the hull, like a racing boat, to reduce drag. When the wind doesn’t blow, the vessel can use a diesel engine as backup. But the ultimate plan is to use an onboard battery that could be charged by the wind that the kite captures. The company’s software tracks weather data and uses AI to continually calculate the optimal route, based on wind speed and direction and the path of other ships. Eventually, the ships could travel autonomously, though to comply with current regulations, the company will start with crews on board.

A shipping company is now collaborating on the R&D

The startup built a small boat to test last year, proving that the basic concept worked. This summer, it announced that it was partnering with Lomarlabs, the venture arm of the British shipping company Lomar, to continue developing the design. Next year, CargoKite plans to build a new prototype that will test the ship’s ability to carry cargo on board.

CargoKite expects to make two versions of the design. The smallest “micro” ship, at around 130 feet long, could carry 16 shipping containers. The small size and weight means that the hydrofoils can fully lift up the ship so it can travel much faster than a typical cargo ship. But the company plans to begin with a larger version, around 260 feet or double its length. By carrying more cargo, it can help reduce costs before the company moves to full autonomy. The larger size isn’t as fast as the micro ship (it’s a similar speed to a typical cargo ship), but because it’s much smaller than virtually all other cargo ships, it will still have the advantage of accessing ports larger ships can’t squeeze into, another way to reduce shipping times.

For shipping companies that are racing to decarbonize their businesses, the ships could be an alternative to using such fuels as hydrogen. Those fuels “are expected to be two to six times as expensive,” says Binder. “If 50% of the cost of a shipping company are fuel costs, that’s going to be a problem. . . . We are a far cheaper alternative.” It will also take time to build out new infrastructure for hydrogen and other alternative fuels, she says. So even if cargo ships soon use hydrogen at the largest ports, the kite-powered ships could make deliveries to smaller ports that don’t yet have access to new green fuel.

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