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container ships getting bigger

5K views 25 replies 19 participants last post by  sailguy40 
#1 ·
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#2 ·
And the sight lines from the bridge when the deck is full, get farther away. So please don't get too close ahead of one. they can see you alongside from the bridge wings *if* they take the long walk out there. But not close in front of them, so be careful out there!
 
#4 ·
Having been alongside an 1100 foot one, they are "effing" huge.
 
#14 ·
The biggest ship I ever saw was entering in the Alantic 15 miles offshore NY Harbor was a Bergebulk owned ore carrier. I have never see something so wide again.

Dave
 
#5 · (Edited)
Port of Oakland has already been widened and dredged to accommodate these 1,300 foot long ships. After the "little" mishaps with bridges, the SF Bar Pilots Association is putting two pilots (each with a GPS and Handheld) on board Post Panamax and larger ships. One at the bow and the other in the wheelhouse. Shippers are crying foul as the association wants to charge double for these ships. Needless to say, they cannot maneuver to avoid you and the suction from the prop will have a tendency to draw you towards the ship especially in the confines of the Alameda Estuary.
 
#6 ·
There was a show on TV 4-5 years ago about the biggest (at the time) container ship. One very interesting fact....line up all the containers it could carry, end to end, and they would stretch, I believe, about 25 miles. That's a boatload of containers.
 
#8 ·
We have come to define big as any ship whose length is given in (parts of) nautical miles, rather than feet, on the AIS.
 
#9 ·
Can't help but think about all those gigantic VLCC's that got laid up, unused or nearly so, in Norwegian fjords back in the 70's.
 
#10 ·
Was talking to a tug captain a few days ago. Apparently the big ships have a minimum speed which if they go below they loose steerage. Something like 6 knots.
 
#15 ·
In our case Navarino maintained 3 knots in calm seas.
 
#11 ·
Thats a huge boat! Some of the cruise ships that make port in Seattle are HUGE! The freighters etc I see in Puget sound are nothing compared to them. Even tried to get rundown by the air craft carrier Abe Lincoln a few years ago, and that is small compared to some of the cruise ships in the sound!

Marty
 
#17 ·
Can you imagine putting properly sized Masts & Sails of a clipper ship on one of those over sized floating warehouses? That would be something to seen. The seamen working the royals would have to have parachutes in case they fell off. the royal yardarm. :D
 
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#23 ·
Kinda like these? :)

Next-gen cargo ships could use 164-foot sails to lower fuel use by 30%

Depiction of a cargo ship equipped with the Wind Challenger Project system of sails



Depiction of a cargo ship equipped with the Wind Challenger Project system of sails
Image Gallery (5 images)

Of the world's nearly 45,000 cargo ships, many burn a low-grade bunker fuel in their engines and produce pollution equivalent to millions of automobiles. To help reduce that toxic load and keep the price of shipping freight reasonable, engineers at the University of Tokyo (UT) and a group of collaborators have designed a system of large, retractable sails measuring 64 feet (20 m) wide by 164 feet (50 m) high, which studies indicate can reduce annual fuel use on ships equipped with them by up to 30%.

The five-segment sail will telescope down onto itself
Scale model of a Wind Challenger Project sail fully deployed
The sails can be lowered when in port or in rough weather
Artist's rendition of a cargo ship equipped with the Wind Challenger Project system of sai...
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"Using today's technology, it's possible to make big sails, and to control them automatically," UT professor Kiyoshi Uzawa told DigInfo. "Also, navigation technology includes networked maritime information and weather forecasting, so ships like this can travel safely. Using wind energy, as in old-fashioned sailing ships, is actually feasible."

Each five-segment collapsible sail, estimated to cost about US$2.5 million, will be hollow and constructed of durable, lightweight aluminum and fiber-reinforced plastic. Similar in shape to an aircraft wing in cross section, the sails can be positioned independently of one another to maximize thrust and, while at anchor or in bad weather, can telescope down in what is known as "vertical reefing."

Uzawa anticipates that, with basic research completed, the Wind Challenger Project (WCP) group will be able to consider construction of a reduced-size prototype in the next few years to fully prove the concept. If all goes as planned, sea trials could begin as soon as 2016. If results from scale model wind tunnel tests and computer simulations bear out in the real world, he believes the sails could pay ultimately for themselves in five to ten years.

Due to the varying nature of cargo vessels, it seems likely that the WCP technology will be better suited for low-slung bulk material ships (ore, grain, oil) than for sea container ships, say, which stack freight high above deck. The group is not short on innovation, however, so it'll be interesting to see how that issue is approached.

It appears that a new era of tall, greener ships could be just over the horizon.

Source: DigInfo via Akihabara News

Check out the DigInfo video below to learn more about the new sails.

Next generation cargo ship with 50m high sails uses 30% less fuel #DigInfo - YouTube
 
#19 ·
#26 · (Edited)
That pic with the little sailing yacht on the bottom near that monster container ship is terrifying. Makes me want to run back and hide in a small lake or something so it can't get me lol. Wow, love the Maltese Falcon above there, awesome. Then the cruise ship along side even makes THAT look small but not taller :)
 
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