... it offers no economy of scale whatsoever.
The world’s largest sailing cargo ship is making its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. It left a port in France in early August, and it is on track to deliver 1000 tonnes of cognac and champagne to New York City by 3 September. Its shipments have a carbon footprint one tenth that of a standard container ship.
. . .
Anemos is no ancient seafaring vessel. Its cloth sails are deployed and handled using an automated system instead of human sailors, and its rigging system for controlling the sails was inspired by ocean racing vessels and designed using computer simulations.
This system lets Anemos transport one tonne of cargo over a kilometre while producing less than 2 grams of carbon emissions – a carbon footprint 10 times smaller than the huge container ships that transport most of the world’s goods, which emit at least 20 grams per tonne over a kilometre.
When primarily relying on wind power, the ship can reach speeds of more than 19 kilometres per hour – and it could potentially sail faster in stronger conditions such as the North Atlantic trade winds, says Le Grand. For backup propulsion, the ship uses two diesel-electric engines.
Anemos is part of a planned fleet of eight ships that could eventually transport 200,000 tonnes of goods annually while saving an estimated 40,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.
There's more at the link.
Sounds terrific, and terribly green, and all that sort of thing, until one considers:
- A thousand-ton cargo is about one one-hundredth (often less) of what a modern container ship delivers on a single voyage, faster, and over longer distances;
- For all its technological sophistication, the ship still relies on a notoriously fickle source of power - namely, the wind, which "blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes";
- An eight-ship fleet carrying 200,000 tons of freight every year equates to the cargo capacity of two regular (or one super-large) container ship(s) carrying that much freight every month or two;
- If the wind doesn't blow (or blow in the right direction at the right strength), diesel-electric engines take over, and take the "green factor" with them.
Peter
14 comments:
They might make sense as island-hoppers servicing the Caribbean or South Pacific island chains.
These are apocalypse ships. They might keep sailing a few years after societal collapse because of less (but not zero) fuel usage.
I also noticed water discharging from the aft starboard side in the photo. Given that I see ZERO solar panels, one can only assume there's a DEISEL GENERATOR running for power, and that the water discharge is from its water cooling.
Don't get me wrong. I'm a BIG fan of alternative energy, and have toyed with it here at Rancho Whybother. These ships can find a place on the playing field for short-haul operations. What I'm NOT a big fan of is the mandating of such technologies by people who know nothing about them!
Add in it is transporting very high value non-perishable cargo so the transit time required isn't really an issue.
Ship's power has a concept called hotel load. That is, how much power is required to run the ship not including propulsion. How efficient are these diesels? Why not incorporate solar into the deck space. Hi-tech sail material, i.e., polymers needing oil. How many hulls would it take to move the same cargo as today, how much energy needed to make those extra hulls?
Old sailing ships had very unpredictable schedules. Not so in today's logistics. How much diesel is used per ton for shipping? What about lifetime maintenance costs? How big a crew is needed? Modern mariners spend a lot of underway time performing maintenance. Can she move containerized cargo-I would assume so but couldn't tell from the picture. Can she outrun Somali pirates or does her design severely limit the routes she can service (Answer is no and yes). Old sailing ships and transport were affected by the time of year and the winds produced by dominant weather patterns. How does that come in to play?
This will be a niche player. Island hopper sounds like a good niche.
Could the water being discharged on the starboard stern simply be a bilge pump, getting rid of the (probably inevitable) splashes and leaks?
The clip from New Scientist did say it has a "two diesel-electric engines." It's probably pretty trivial to run a generator for various things on the ship.
Even so, I like the idea of it, and yes it will have a place comes societal collapse.
I make my living now on commercial ships, Id like to think there was still a way to continue doing so after the collapse, course that would require learning actual Sailing I reckon.
There are a few old sailing vessels right now sailing commercially, carrying non perishable cargo
The insane greenies and their complicit commie accomplices want to take us back to the days of sailing ships. Ajd not just for shipping....for EVERYTHING . They want 90% of us dead and the rest living hand to mouth in an 18th century existence.
Very cute fantasy marketing ploy.
For all that Anemos is supposed to be a hi-tech new design, those numbers are similar to, but slightly worse than, the clipper ship Cutty Sark completed in 1869: cargo capacity 1100 tons, best recorded speed about 15kt / 28kph over a 24 hour period (but averaging more like 6.5kt / 12kph over a long voyage). (Based on Wikipedia entries).
If you read Basil Greenhill's book The Merchant Schooners (it is about the end of sail in and around Britain) he describes how sailing ships were out priced by steam ships. The steam ships were NOT cheaper to run (the typical sailing schooners had a crew of four, maybe five including a "boy") but were often weather bound for weeks. Looking at old maritime charts, sheltered harbours, bays and inlets were marked as waiting grounds where the sailing vessels could wait favourable winds. The steam ship had a larger crew and had fuel costs but could, on average, make three voyages and earn more money in the same time period than the sail. The crew had to be paid, whether under way or not.
Nowadays, with high value cargoes, the time taken on voyages ties up a lot of capital (imagine a 20 foot container packed with the latest i Phones) which represents a lot of capital tied up and costing interest payments.
Howard I Chapelle laid out the economic case in his book The Search for Speed Under Sail.
Just like cars, if you want the small engine, basic model, it is cheap but the most powerful engined GTI version is a lot more expensive. Speed costs, whether a ship or car and the ship owners would not pay money for a fast ship if they didn't need the speed.
Bulk carriers, carrying low value cargoes (coal, iron ore etc.) plod along at about 12 knots, or about as fast as a bicycle. Container ships on the Trans Pacific route crank out over 30 knots, some as high as 35 knots. That is FAST but they are carrying valuable cargoes.
Add in the fact that ports are geared to handing containers from a ship with no deck obstructions (y'know, like masts, rigging and the clutter on that one) and you need to ask how is it going to be unloaded and where? Going back to the 1890's where men carried individual sacks and boxes off the vessel ain't gonna happen, unless it is a primitive part of the world like Asia or the Pacific Islands. Again, a fast turn around in port so the ship can be earning is the aim, not paying the crew to sit around and/or waiting for another cargo. So the ship has delivered it cargo, unless it can pick up a cargo for the return leg (what kind and what needs to be shipped back to Europe in such a small quantity?), then that is cost and no income if it has to return empty.
It is a bit like a millionaire buying a ranch so his wife can play at being a horse trainer/breeder. In other words, a hobby and a money pit.
Phil B
Carbon dioxide is good. It makes plants grow. The earth is a self-balancing system. The Sahara is shrinking because plant growth is encroaching on it. These facts are all deliberately ignored by the corrupt "climate change" scammers.
A sailing ship has an inherent disadvantage versus a motor ship. The sailing ship's power (and therefore speed) is derived from the sails, which are based on area. The motor's power comes from a volume-based engine.
As the ship gets larger the largest practical sails become smaller relative to its mass according to the square-cube law. The motor doesn't have that limitation. There would be another limitation based on removing waste heat for the motor, but that's on a different level.
So it's not surprising that this sailing ship is much smaller than anything we would use for cargo today. A thousand tons of cargo? They were using larger capacity ships as Levanters back in the Napoleonic wars.
No mention on what it cost to build.
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