During the Pacific Islands Transport Forum & Expo, MCST initiated a partnership with Swire Shipping/China Navigation Co. to undertake Phase 1 of the Cerulean Project over the course of 2019.

In 2018, Swire Shipping and the University of the South Pacific launched a new project to research and design a low-carbon wind powered, commercially-operated freighter to stimulate outer-island Pacific trade. Route analysis by the Micronesian Centre for Sustainable Transport (MCST) demonstrated a marginal but viable business case if the vessel could be built within budget.

In the Spring of 2020, sailor Shanan Wolfe was the first mate on SV Kwai, a 179 ton cargo topsail ketch. Kwai has been delivering cargo and passengers in the Pacific Ocean, mainly between Hawaii and Kiribati and the Cook Islands, since 2006.

This article is part of a series linked to our new exhibit: "A New Age Of Sail: The History And Future Of Sail Freight In The Hudson Valley," and tells the stories of sailing cargo ships both modern and historical, on the Hudson River and around the world. Anyone interested in how to support Sail Freight should also check out the Conference in November, and the International Windship Association's Decade of Wind Propulsion.

Sailing for months across the Pacific to the remote islands of Kiribati and the northern Cook Islands from Hawaii, I hop aboard the sailing cargo ship Kwai who provides Western resources to the most remote habited islands in the Pacific. Islands pictured include Puka Puka, Rakahanga, Penrhyn, Manihiki, and Nassau. I was hired by the owner of the Kwai, Brad Ives, to film this voyage after he saw my films of sailing between the Kiribati islands while he walked in on French Castaway Bruno Delalla and I bantering in his house of coral on Tabuaeran during a tropical rainstorm.