Yes and they fail to mention alternative sailing systems and technologies alltogether and instead follow the example of the Ecoclipper, which does not present a suitable method for mass freight transport using wind powered or -assisted systems. It is a nice showpiece, but a 19th century solution - not a 21st one, as the articles headline promises.

A true 21st century sailing ship solution would offer comparable performance as a standard ship and have significant advantages in efficency, ultra-low maintenance and low cost when compared to a traditional sailing set up.

They end with the note that a (traditional) sailing ship transport economy would require a drastic cut down on the amounts of cargo and/or passengers that get transported, or a massive increase in the number of ships and crew required which is a understandable conclusion - but it is made only under evaluation of the Ecoclipper (and similar) example which represents obsolete technology.

With actual current day technology the transport volume can stay the same or even grow - while decreasing costs. Rotor sails could offer lower costs, higher effectivity, lower maintenance and more unobstructed deckspace to add solarpanels and windturbines. With that in mind the conclusion would be much different - namely that wind powered or rather wind- (and sun) assisted shipping while keeping modern requirements for speed, costs, power consumption etc. is totally feasable.

This article seems to be like an argument "Well computers are nice and all, but producing them is really terrible for the environment. Perhaps we should return to calculating by hand on paper and accept that it is slower - but that would be so much more environmental friendly!" Which would be unworldly naive. Humanity never ever downgrades on such things. Instead it finds solutions that offer the same or better performance at lower costs. It will be the same with transport.

Or perhaps you should elaborate what you think I got wrong.