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Up until WWII, Finnish shippers were competitive using sailing ships for long range bulk transport of grain, Eric Newby details one such voyage as a sailor in T
by kryptiskt 2y ago
Up until WWII, Finnish shippers were competitive using sailing ships for long range bulk transport of grain, Eric Newby details one such voyage as a sailor in The Last Grain Race (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Grain_Race https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Grain_Race). I see no particular reason why sailing ships with a little optimization couldn't be competitive these days if they were back then, especially since the fuel prices comparatively is higher now.
- bobthepanda 2y agoThe real kicker is labor cost per ton. Bigger ships don’t have a proportionately bigger crew. And sailboats were quite labor intensive.
- qmmmur 2y agoSounds like you just “created some jobs”
- gofixurcode 2y agoIt’s totally possible that manipulating the sails and rigging is motorized and automated on these ships. Would be interested to see a demo of the operation of this ship.
- bobthepanda 2y agoI think the next thing you run into is height. Sailboats are much taller than fossil fuel cargo ships of the same size. A lot of harbors have bridges in their path.