A cargo ship with 123-foot ‘WindWing’ sails has just departed on its maiden voyage

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 171 points – A cargo ship with 123-foot ‘WindWing’ sails has just departed on its maiden voyage
popsci.com

A cargo ship with 123-foot ‘WindWing’ sails has just departed on its maiden voyage::Retrofitted with 123-foot ‘WindWings,' 'Pyxis Ocean' is testing two giant sails on its six-week journey from China to Brazil.

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We've made a full circle, haven't we?

Sails fell out of favor because when people order something, they want it immediately. Sailing was too inconsistent and petroleum became too cheap. There's still a huge shipping market for overnight intercontinental flights for companies who can't wait. I'm happy to introduce hybrid propulsion systems to try to make a dent, but we can't pretend it's an altruistic effort. We can't pretend customer demand is why these ships are so dirty in the first place, either.

Traditional sails are also fragile, complex, expensive and very labour intensive even with electric winches. A fully rigged ship is exceptionally complicated and knowing how to work one takes huge skill and knowledge, and that's not even mentioning what to do when something goes wrong. And of course, it's much slower as well.

Sails fell out of favor because when people order something, they want it immediately. Sailing was too inconsistent and petroleum became too cheap

You say that like sailing was replaced with modern cargo ships. Sailing was replaced by coal steamers over a century ago. Same-day delivery had nothing to do with it.

OK, replace "petroleum" with "fossil fuel engines" and then replace "overnight" with "as fast as technologically possible at whatever time period you wish to examine in which powered transport was faster and more consistent than sailing ships" and the rest stands all the same

We'll see hitching posts start making a comeback soon

I appreciate this headline referring to them directly as "sails" and not trying to dress it up as some crazy new invention.

The idea is cool, and there's cool new tech involved. It's a great example of how we can fight climate change by finding better ways - even updates on old ways - to solve problems (technology alone will not solve climate change but that's a separate discussion).

But it's hard for anyone to take it seriously when breathless tech writers insist on describing sailing as a "Pioneering new breakthrough in maritime technology" or whatever. Sometimes the playbook just doesn't fit, and it really shows.

Everything old made new again. I was watching a video the other day making a strong case for electric airships for short trips. They're not as fast as planes but are far more efficient.

Yeah just don't make the balloons out of thermite and fill them with hydrogen.

Japanese carrier K-Line is also experimenting with kite-like technology, interestingly also claiming about 20% of fuel consumption reduction. https://youtu.be/pPclp6fJ4BY

I'm excited to see these sails or kites in person. It just makes sense to harness that wind energy back.

Oh man I remember reading articles about this kind of tech in magazines like Popular Mechanics and Popular Science ages ago on how in the future ships might use these rigid sails to save fuel. They were always portrayed as being right around the corner, even though it was clearly not the case.

Wind is finally cheaper than oil and gas. 🙃

I too remember reading about this ships already 30y ago in the German P.M. mag.

Bunker fuel (HFO) is pretty cheap, as long as you don't care about the environment...

I would consider this like a hybrid vehicle. The sails reduce the emissions but you’re still relying heavily on bunker fuel.

The real question is how much is the retrofitting vs the cost saved through the ship’s life.

No it isn't. That's the late stage capitalism question. The real question is does the retrofitting offset enough nonrenewable energy usage, and I'd bet the wear and tear on a ship not designed to be powered that way will blow that savings out of the water.

Too bad we live in a late-stage capitalism world, so those sorts of questions are definitely the right ones to ask.

That is the real question indeed. But most companies think late stage capitalism vs will they still have a planet to make money after their next quarter.