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This might be a stupid question - but could ships tug or tow their cargo, and let it roll around?
by err4nt 7y ago
This might be a stupid question - but could ships tug or tow their cargo, and let it roll around?
- hirundo 7y agoI'd think that towing anything in violent weather would be dangerous. If self propelled rather than towed your idea becomes a merchant submarine. That would have to greatly complicate things and be slower and/or use much more fuel.
- gpm 7y agoIt doesn't have to be underwater to be either towable or self propelled. See the other comment about barges on the Mississippi for towing and SpaceX's "of course I still love you" (and friends) for self propelled. Autonomous and underwater would be hard, radio doesn't travel well through water.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago> Autonomous and underwater would be hard, radio doesn't travel well through water. You mean "remote-controlled and underwater"? As "autonomous" kind of implies not being in need of constant communication.
- gpm 7y agoNo, I mean autonomous too. Autonomous vehicles still want access to GPS, you still want to know where your stuff is, you still want to be able to give new orders if something changes, etc.
- superice 7y agoThey're not only common on the Mississippi, but also the Rhine area in the Netherlands and Germany as hinterland operations for the port of Rotterdam, as well as the Danube area in eastern Europe. Both self-propelled barges and push barges have been used for ages already in inland shipping in Europe, but have not been used a lot in the rest of the world. They also seem to only be suitable for river transport. With small scale transport over sea you have so-called feeder ships, which have an entirely different build, and never push extra barges/ships.
- nradov 7y agoYes tugboats tow barges loaded with cargo on some shipping routes. But it's less efficient, tow cables can break, and port operations are difficult.
- masonic 7y agoSingle tugs moving multiple barges are common on the Mississippi River, for example.