World's Largest Cargo Sailboat Completes Historic First Atlantic Crossing (marineinsight.com)
- Reference: 0180010134
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/11/08/1759258/worlds-largest-cargo-sailboat-completes-historic-first-atlantic-crossing
- Source link: https://www.marineinsight.com/shipping-news/worlds-largest-cargo-sailboat-completes-historic-first-atlantic-crossing/
> The world's largest cargo sailboat, Neoliner Origin, completed its first transatlantic voyage on 30 October despite damage to one of its sails during the journey. The 136-metre-long vessel had to rely partly on its auxiliary motor and its remaining sail after the aft sail was damaged in a storm shortly after departure... Neoline, the company behind the project, said the damage reduced the vessel's ability to perform fully on wind power...
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> The Neoliner Origin is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 90 percent compared to conventional diesel-powered cargo ships. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), global shipping produces about 3 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions...
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> The ship can carry up to 5,300 tonnes of cargo, including containers, vehicles, machinery, and specialised goods. It arrived in Baltimore carrying Renault vehicles, French liqueurs, machinery, and other products. The Neoliner Origin is scheduled to make monthly voyages between Europe and North America, maintaining a commercial cruising speed of around 11 knots.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~AmiMoJo
[2] https://www.marineinsight.com/shipping-news/worlds-largest-cargo-sailboat-completes-historic-first-atlantic-crossing/
how did it take us THIS long? (Score:3)
It's amazing to see that we're only just now discovering we can use the power of wind to move boats around!
Re: (Score:3)
Yeah, I wonder how those ships were going around the oceans before fueled motors were invented. They probably had to row from Europe to India and back for trading spices and such.
Re: how did it take us THIS long? (Score:2)
Sails and storms dont mix. Innumerable sailing ships had their sails ripped, masts snapped or went to the bottom because of it. Hardly surprising that when a technology that didnt involve having a couple of 50-100 foot high poles with large fabric attached to them that could work in all weathers came along it quickly took over. I mean FFS, this ship had only just left harbour and one of its modern rigid sails got damaged!
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Now they know when a storm is coming and what its probably path is. The pilot will have to take into account calm areas and avoid those as well, but satellite weather forecasting makes that possible now.
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Humans have been sailing since at least 60,000 BCE, since that was the only way for them to get to Australia (paddling rafts is remarkably slow, and there are some nasty currents in that straight.) Genetic studies came to the conclusion that rather than a single event consisting of a couple of possibly storm-tossed families (the old speculation) colonization was a deliberate efffort by hundreds of people over the course of centuries.
A bit slower, but ... (Score:4, Funny)
> It arrived in Baltimore carrying Renault vehicles
Oh boy! The Deux Chevauxs have arrived.
Re: A bit slower, but ... (Score:2)
Renault? France must be really pissed at America. Or maybe they have gotten better?
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The Deux Chevaux, the only car that made my 1958 VW type 1 feel like a Porsche 911.
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It's funny but the Deux Chevaux was Citroen. :)
"despite damage to one of its sails" (Score:3)
It uses "semi-rigid sails" and from the photo I can see they are whoppers, far too large for manual operation. Probably they are managed with hydraulic or electric actuators and it looks like they are on swiveling platforms. It makes me wonder how easily the crew can reduce sail area during a storm or heavy wind, which can blow up very quickly.
Re: (Score:2)
They'll know when a storm is coming before it gets there. Weather forecasting has come a long way since the 19th century. They may preferentially skirt the edge of storms for a speed boost.
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Apparently they didn't know this time. Some very strong winds can occur even during a minor squall out on the water and many a sail has blown out because it wasn't reefed soon enough.
On a cargo ship like this they may be reluctant to reduce or drop sails and take the speed penalty. In the future I expect they will err on the side of caution.
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Winds can come out of nowhere. This is apparently a report in the annals of the British Navy from the war of 1812, where a ship near Baltimore lost its foremast to a strong wind when the quarterdeck at the rear of the ship was in a dead calm. Also, at 11 knots it is not that easy to avoid storms that might be hundreds of miles across and moving at a good speed themselves. My feeling is that if sailing ships were a practical solution, we would have been using them all along.
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Perhaps they are "moving quick and breaking things"?, like SpaceX does. Send it out, and in the case of a rapid deconstruction of the ship, learn from it and iterate.
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You posted an insightful post in my opinion. It is an Engineering challenge, and should not be debated from a pro-oil point of view.
All I can say is duh! (Score:3)
Oil power is lazy, dirty, and inefficient. Wind is the obvious choice. From an engineering perspective, in 2025, it seems like quite a challenge to me. It used to take many men to make it work. Now we have control systems, precise sensors, and efficient motors. We could send up massive Kite type of things to propel the ship. Sure the package may arrive a day or two later, and big deal. As people we have all of this 'anxiety' about instant gratification, then when it comes, we think, big deal.
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I didn't RTFA, but 11 knots is about half the speed of a regular container ship, and 2/3 of a bulk carrier, which I find surprisingly good.
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It's about half the size of the larger cargo ships too, but still quite competitive. I'm sure they can scale up, Running costs should be lower due to less fuel use (it still uses some around ports).
Speed isn't such a big deal for this sort of thing, that can be worked into the logistics. Maybe they will have drone ships eventually anyway, so it's not even costing any more in wages.
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One really big technology change between the 1950s and today is the ability to know when, where, and in which direction the wind is/will be blowing throughout your entire trip. That's huge, no more Edmund Fitzgerald getting caught by an early storm or avoiding doldrums. Also according to sailing rules wind powered vessels always have the right of way, which might be important in straights like the English Channel or around southern Asia.
Re: (Score:2)
> Also according to sailing rules wind powered vessels always have the right of way, which might be important in straights like the English Channel or around southern Asia.
It's difficult to take nautical advice from a dude who can't spell "strait" correctly. The "rules of the road" are a bit more complicated than you describe. A ship under sail, for example, must give way to a vessel restricted in its ability to maneuver, or a vessel not under command (can't maneuver at all). A sailing vessel must also give way to a fishing vessel using nets or trawls.
So no, wind powered vessels do not always have right of way.
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Yes, or a rowboat, or drifting debris, or . . .
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I am good with the "all of the above" energy solutions. Nuclear, in my opinion, is a decent choice for boats at sea. I am kind of irritated about the oil pushers. They are like drug pushers to me.
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> Oil power is lazy, dirty, and inefficient. Wind is the obvious choice.
Sorry, but no. Bashing rocks might be green, but if everything shipped this way you'd probably 10x shipping costs (and make many supply chains non-viable).
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I think that opinion needs to be tested in an objective way. Facts seem to be lost on the oil pushers and liars.