PowerSwitch

This article tells of a futuristic wooden built sailing vessel being built to ship cargo from Costa Rica to the US and Canada. It can take four containers and has an additional electric engine powered by batteries charged by PV and the propeller when excess wind power is available.

As told in the article the real future of shipping must be much less of it transporting less "stuff" around the world.

It sounds an interesting development and useful perhaps for freight to small islands that need imports, but on a small scale.
A ship with a capacity of just four containers wont be of much use for the freight flows between major nations. Large container ships make efficient use of fuel in terms of fuel used per ton or per container.
Recent fuel saving measures have consisted of even larger ships, these being more efficient than smaller vessels, and reduced speeds for the less urgent cargo.
I suspect that in years to come, that we will see sails used on large ships.

I saw an interesting video on YouTube which seemed to indicate that there is a limit to ship size and efficiency. Very large container ships were less efficient in terms of fuel than those smaller - I think we are talking about those ships carrying 10,000 containers and 5,000 containers not 4.

Speed travelled is also a big efficiency thing which Maersk brought in after 2008 and have not gotten rid of.

For large cargo ships to use sail power would require a radical re-design, the weight distribution is all wrong, they would blow over easily. Current docks probably wouldn't be deep enough to take them.

I think it's more likely that small nuclear plants would power ever larger ships.

Sailing barge restored to revenue earning cargo carrying !
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66300187

Oil burning container ships are going to be around for many years yet, but it is good to see alternatives being used, even if on a small scale.

Not all plain sailing (pun fully intended) though as the following video will show. The last of the Cape Horners taking grain from South Australia to the hungry mouths of Europe on a series of sailing ships owned by a Finnish sea captain. One ship had a reputation of taking one of its approximately 40 crewmember's lives each trip.

I am sure that technology will improve the setting of sails rather than having teams of men climbing up there to do the work.

BritDownUnder wrote: ↑31 Jul 2023, 21:39 I am sure that technology will improve the setting of sails rather than having teams of men climbing up there to do the work.

Many of the square sail ships built recently have electric winches to work the sails as do many yachts.