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As the article points out, there's no way short of carbon taxes to make this economically viable. Cargo ships keep getting bigger and bigger because scale incr

As the article points out, there's no way short of carbon taxes to make this economically viable. Cargo ships keep getting bigger and bigger because scale increases efficiency, the limiting factor is the max size ports can accommodate. Anything the size of these is never going to be wind powered: https://www.scf.com.au/news-articles/largest-shipping-container-ships/ https://www.scf.com.au/news-articles/largest-shipping-contai... , the sails/foils required to get adequate propulsion would be impossible to maintain. So at best this tech is going to be for relatively high-margin goods where shipping time is at a premium but not so prioritized as to spring for air transport. Like old-school clippers. Maybe there's a niche there, and I guess every little bit helps, but I imagine the total impact on climate change to be minimal.

jeffreyrogers 4y ago
> the limiting factor is the max size ports can accommodate. And the size of the canals (Suez, Panama) they have to pass through in some cases. Edit: here's a good graphic showing max sizes for various types of ships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suezmax#/media/File:Ship_measurements_comparison.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suezmax#/media/File:Ship_measu...
webdoodle 4y ago
Unless the price of oil exceeds the value of the goods being delivered.
- Ekaros 4y ago
  It wont for long time. For light and not too volumetric cargo the shipping in container is very very cheap. Like laughably little from price of item.
  - webdoodle 4y ago
    When Peak oil happens, if we don't have a replacement fuel (which we don't currently), then it won't be long time, it will be forever.
    - brightlancer 4y ago
      Peak oil has long been predicted but it never arrives. What has happened is that as demand for oil rose, we found and exploited new sources - so many that we created a glut and shut down exploitation of some sources because the price of oil was too low for it to be economically viable.

jeffreyrogers 4y ago

> the limiting factor is the max size ports can accommodate. And the size of the canals (Suez, Panama) they have to pass through in some cases. Edit: here's a good graphic showing max sizes for various types of ships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suezmax#/media/File:Ship_measurements_comparison.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suezmax#/media/File:Ship_measu...

webdoodle 4y ago

Unless the price of oil exceeds the value of the goods being delivered.

Ekaros 4y ago
It wont for long time. For light and not too volumetric cargo the shipping in container is very very cheap. Like laughably little from price of item.
- webdoodle 4y ago
  When Peak oil happens, if we don't have a replacement fuel (which we don't currently), then it won't be long time, it will be forever.
  - brightlancer 4y ago
    Peak oil has long been predicted but it never arrives. What has happened is that as demand for oil rose, we found and exploited new sources - so many that we created a glut and shut down exploitation of some sources because the price of oil was too low for it to be economically viable.