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Global trade depends almost entirely on huge, dirty, dangerous container ships. Now a team of French shipbuilders is bringing back wind-powered sea freight


Alan de Enfield

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59 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Which means that to go to sail, you'll only be using it to transport relatively high value goods, like the company is in the article. Similar to as it was 250 years ago; tea, spices, silk, slaves, tobacco, cotton, etc. Not cheap plastic tat from the far East, much of which shouldn't be made at all, let alone shipped half way round the world. 

The problem is that the kind of high value goods likely to suit sailing ships won't even be 1% of trade, so the environmental impact will be negligible... 😞

 

Trade isn't just cheap plastic tat, it's almost everything -- appliances, furniture, raw materials. Stop this and shift to "locally-made" and prices of pretty much everything would probably at least double, which would cause massive inflation.

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6 minutes ago, IanD said:

The problem is that the kind of high value goods likely to suit sailing ships won't even be 1% of trade, so the environmental impact will be negligible... 😞

 

Trade isn't just cheap plastic tat, it's almost everything -- appliances, furniture, raw materials. Stop this and shift to "locally-made" and prices of pretty much everything would probably at least double, which would cause many people to stop buying things.

FTFY

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Its more plastic tat than anything else......once people were happy to have stuff that did things......now they have stuff that does nothing,and chuck it out and replace it every six months....or less.

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21 minutes ago, john.k said:

Its more plastic tat than anything else......once people were happy to have stuff that did things......now they have stuff that does nothing,and chuck it out and replace it every six months....or less.

 

without it the holy grail known as "GROWTH" would cease to exist, leading to the spivs in the City of London jumping out of their office windows.

 

now, that would never do.

not only Tory party policies, but the whole of the world economy needs to pause and then re-set.  Perhaps it will take a war or a significant climate crisis to kick it off.

 

...................  hang on, we have such an opportunity right now.

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On 14/07/2022 at 23:38, howardang said:

I wonder if the two Frenchman actually understand the issues in developing an efficient vessel, and the scale and complexities involved in the modern international container trade? Even ignoring the many errors in the long article, their concept is totally unrealistic in so many ways, and even the idea of wind assistance is something which will be extremely difficult to achieve considering the size of modern container vessels, coupled  with the size of crews required.

I

 

 

The Bramble Bank turn off Cowes might prove a good place to show how impractical sail driven container ships are?

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44 minutes ago, MartinC said:

The Bramble Bank turn off Cowes might prove a good place to show how impractical sail driven container ships are?

 

Are you suggesting that 'engine powered' ships don't have problems ?

 

One of the most well know ones :

 

On Tuesday 11 November 2008, on approaching Southampton Docks for her last visit prior to retirement, the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth 2 ran aground on the Bramble Bank at approximately 0530 hrs. She required four tugs to pull her clear on the rising tide and arrived in Southampton approximately 90 minutes late.

 

and then :

 

 

  1. 13 February 2016 at 11:30pm

Tugs on standby as massive container ship runs aground on Bramble Bank in The Solent

A giant container ship has run aground on the notorious Bramble Bank in The Solent. The Apl Vanda is a Singapore-registered container ship that is nearly 370 metres long and 51 metres wide, it's tonnage is put at at more than 150,000. It's thought to have run aground while trying to turn across the busy waterway between Cowes, Isle of Wight and Southampton Water. Tugs are on standby to try and help the ship get afloat at high tide.

 

And :

Jan 2015

Hoegh Osaka 180 metre long car transporter is aground on Bramble Bank Listing 45 degrees Tugs and helicopters on scene.

 

image.jpeg.e209659f563f23ffa2ea17bf6dfe54b7.jpeg

 

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2 hours ago, john.k said:

Its more plastic tat than anything else......once people were happy to have stuff that did things......now they have stuff that does nothing,and chuck it out and replace it every six months....or less.

I bet all your domestic appliances (washing machine, dishwasher, fridge, freezer, microwave, TV, hi-fi, router, PC...) are made elsewhere, many of them in China -- these are things that last years, not plastic tat. And a lot of the raw materials used to manufacture stuff locally (e.g. steel) also come from abroad, often from China.

 

Yes there is also plastic tat which is a plague on the planet, but in fact most things nowadays either come from abroad or are built using raw materials imported from abroad -- get rid of this (assuming there were local sources) and prices would rise massively, which is equivalent to everyone in the country taking a big pay cut.

 

Still think it's a good idea? Even if you're all right Jack, have you actually asked the people who would suddenly find themselves considerably poorer?

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22 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Are you suggesting that 'engine powered' ships don't have problems ?

 

 

No, but at least they have a better chance than relying on sails. Off topic, but one of the last two quoted was run aground by the pilot after listing due to poor cargo loading. The Bank was a "safe haven" to prevent a capsize in a very narrow and busy shipping lane

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