85% of container ships that would’ve transited the Red Sea are now going around the southern tip of Africa as of this morning.
The ships diverting from their… | 42 comments on LinkedIn
Cargo ships already run very slowly in order to save fuel. In a storm where the winds are so strong that the ship risks capsizing, the sails can simply be retracted. Also, if the time spent not moving when there is no wind is a concern, sails can be combined with diesel (or even nuclear) propulsion in a hybrid setup.
eeeh, yeah but if you want to effectively use sails, you need to take specific routes with good reliable wind. modern cargo ships can go in a straighter line.
so it’s not as easy as that, but yeah, they should bring back sailships even if that makes the transit times longer
I know the standards of construction between civilian and military shipping are pretty different, but we have had nuclear powered ships for a while now (nuclear aircraft carrier notably) and they sail pretty fine
Actually there are civilian nuclear powered ships, the USSR and the Russian Federation have built nuclear powered icebreakers (shoutout the Lenin ) which have had accidents but as far as I can tell, no human losses occurred
So I’d say building nuclear cargo ships isn’t really in the realm of science fiction, as long as proper construction standards are applied
Would that not be a bit slow and potentially dangerous in storms and things? I don’t know much about modern sailships.
Cargo ships already run very slowly in order to save fuel. In a storm where the winds are so strong that the ship risks capsizing, the sails can simply be retracted. Also, if the time spent not moving when there is no wind is a concern, sails can be combined with diesel (or even nuclear) propulsion in a hybrid setup.
Also see: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2021/05/how-to-design-a-sailing-ship-for-the-21st-century
eeeh, yeah but if you want to effectively use sails, you need to take specific routes with good reliable wind. modern cargo ships can go in a straighter line.
so it’s not as easy as that, but yeah, they should bring back sailships even if that makes the transit times longer
Nah, since the advent of compressed wood we’ve had the ability to build massive, lightweight and ultra strong sailing ships
It’s just not profitable to do so
I know the standards of construction between civilian and military shipping are pretty different, but we have had nuclear powered ships for a while now (nuclear aircraft carrier notably) and they sail pretty fine
Actually there are civilian nuclear powered ships, the USSR and the Russian Federation have built nuclear powered icebreakers (shoutout the Lenin ) which have had accidents but as far as I can tell, no human losses occurred
So I’d say building nuclear cargo ships isn’t really in the realm of science fiction, as long as proper construction standards are applied