Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Sweden's new car carrier is the world's largest wind-powered vessel
Although there are many local factories that produce cars for large markets, such as the US, China, and India, there still are quite many cars that are shipped from one continent to another. Think of German luxury brands, Japanese SUVs, and Korean family sedans, many of them are produced in their home countries and shipped to other markets. No matter how clean engines or motors they may be, when they are shipped, the vessel emits a substantial amount of greenhouse gasses. Indeed. The shipping industry is getting pressure to be cleaner by reducing emissions of greenhouse gasses. Now, a Swedish shipbuilder came up with a new idea to use an old method to sail a ship. Wind power. Their newly designed ocean car carrier sails by wind power that is generated by five 80-meter-tall wing sails. Those sails will rise nearly 100 meters above the sea surface, too high to sail under certain bridges and endure severe weather conditions. In such cases, they can be retracted by 20 meters. The ship can carry up to 7,000 vehicles, almost the equivalent capacity as conventional car carriers. There are a few drawbacks. It sails about 40% slower than diesel propulsion ships and costs higher to build.
Will those sails catch enough demand to ship automobiles in a greener way?
Enjoy reading the article and learn about a greener way to sail a ship.
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/oceanbird-wind-powered-car-carrier-spc-intl/index.html
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