Since China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) unveiled its KUN-24AP containership at the Marintec China Expo in Shanghai in early December of 2023, the internet has been abuzz about it. Not jus…

China’s Nuclear-Powered Containership: A Fluke Or The Future Of Shipping?::Since China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) unveiled its KUN-24AP containership at the Marintec China Expo in Shanghai in early December of 2023, the internet has been abuzz about it. Not jus…

      • CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.workEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        I’ve only heard of big kites being used to help reduce fuel consumption on cargo ships. If you have a link to an example of a cargo ship that uses the wind as its primary power source, please share it.

            • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              4·
              11 months ago

              My understanding is that like most things you start running into issues with a) how mass scales (so at a certain point you start adding more mass of sails to push the mass of sails you added to push the mass of…) and b) structural integrity (ie, you can’t just make a sky scraper taller by doubling all the dimensions; at some point steel just isn’t strong enough).

              There’s also the issue of speed; no matter how many sails you add, the wind only goes so fast, and it doesn’t go reliably. Modern shipping has deadlines and no one is going to settle for “We got becalmed” or “We lost two months because we were tacking into headwinds the whole time”.

              • CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.workEnglish
                3·
                11 months ago

                Yeah, I see what you mean. It’s hard to imagine what 59.3MW of sail would look like, to match the power of the Ever Given for example, but that’s equivalent to too many wind turbines to reasonably fit on such a vessel. I’m just concerned that international shipping isn’t the best use of our capacity to manufacture nuclear power reactors. Cargo ships do a lot of waiting around, so a nuclear reactor might do a better job on land replacing a coal fired plant.

                As for shipping speed, maybe it would be good to just go back to those lower expectations. Maybe we shouldn’t be getting the things we need in a hurry from overseas. Overseas freight is kind of insane compared to just using emission-free power to manufacture things closer to where they’re needed instead.

                • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                  2·
                  11 months ago

                  I completely agree. Our approach of simply reducing emissions from our current societal and economic structures will not scale sufficiently. The problem, as always, is capitalism. We build things further away because it’s cheaper. We run international shipping on ultra tight schedules and develop systems like just-in-time logistics chains because hyper-efficiency (at the cost of intense fragility) makes more money.

                  These structures have to be broken, or at least heavily disincentivized, in order to make real headway in combating climate change.

    • datendefekt@lemmy.mlEnglish
      4·
      11 months ago

      An interesting alternative to sails are Flettner rotors. They’re pretty much just rotating pillars, and are being tested on some cargo ships to reduce fuel consumption.

    • IlovethebombEnglish
      2·
      11 months ago

      This comment is just classic Lemmy. Do you think customers would accept their cargo just turning up whenever, depending on what the wind is doing? Why do you think we went away from sail in the first place?

      Not to mention the air draft of such a vessel, or the fact that sails interfere with loading cargo.

    • pc486@reddthat.comEnglish
      2·
      11 months ago

      There are sailed powered logistics ships! Here’s a grain ship that just launched. There are also companies that produce inflatable or deployable sails to reduce fuel consumption in favorable winds.

      Ultimately there will be a need for chemical energy or similarly dense energy to move a ship. The wind doesn’t always blow, and when it does it won’t always be in the direction you want. Nuclear is certainly an interesting option.

    • Evil_incarnateEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      They can just add sails to augment the current engines. I read somewhere years ago that it was tested and found to reduce fuel consumption by a lot.