Blow Hard

[Jolly]

If it does, you go faster...

https://apnews.com/article/climate-clean-shipping-sail-carbon-emissions-environment-0c191cb3674e157e66f65c8e58e7c0ce

[Jolly]

The most successful of the Age of Sail?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preussen_(ship)

[Mik]

Interesting idea, but it adds 3-4 days to an Atlantic crossing. The other thing I wondered about was the fiberglass panel sails. Are they retractable? Could they be a problem in storms?

[Jolly]

I've said before, one of my in-laws neighbors is a container ship captain. His run is Houston -Antwerp - Houston. A few years back he changed course to avoid a very bad storm and lost one day in transit.

He was brought up in front of management and reprimanded.

But when looking at wind and the type of cargo these ships could carry, the fuel saving might pay for the 2-3 days longer transit time.

[LuFins Dad]

They are carrying 300 tons of cargo the biggest of their type is carrying 1000 tons. The container ships are carrying 200,000 tons…

If you want to make this work, you have to explore what advantages this really offers and you may have to rethink the entire approach of shipping for many companies.

You also need to explore why sailing ships disappeared from commercial freight and gave way to the massive freighters and whether your model actually accounts for those original shortcomings.

If you can change the approach and promote these ships as being smaller and more nimble, capable of visiting shallower and closer ports, maybe traversing larger rivers to come further inland to reduce land freight… Then you might have something, but it’s doubtful. The simple fact is that the scale is all off. It’s really nothing more than a vanity project.

[Mik]

It could, however, be scaled up for larger ships.

[Jolly]

One of the reasons sailing ships disappeared was the cost of labor. Takes a lot of hands to sail a square-rigger. I think these new designs take a lot less labor.

I don't know if a new breed of sailing ship could be feasible. I do like the idea of more and smaller ports, perhaps negating some of the cost of inland transport.

[Jolly]

@Jolly said in Blow Hard:

One of the reasons sailing ships disappeared was the cost of labor. Takes a lot of hands to sail a square-rigger. I think these new designs take a lot less labor.

I don't know if a new breed of sailing ship could be feasible. I do like the idea of more and smaller ports, perhaps negating some of the cost of inland transport.

Same reason I'd like to see a return to more rail and less trucking. Maybe less inland transportation cost.

Also, I think mixed rail should make a comeback.

Hey, maybe our cargo sailing ships can also have guest (tourist) cabins...

[LuFins Dad]

Those rotary sail installations on the massive cargo ships are likely to have a bigger aggregate impact, and they only reduce diesel fuel consumption and emissions by 6%.