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    33 Comments

    1. xGlitterCharm on

      It is a rare moment in history where the future of technology is just the past with a better marketing department.

    2. soothed-ape on

      If it’s real, it would be drastically more weight and larger ships, with vastly different sail requirements, different shapes,manufacturing and materials

    3. Mission-Discipline32 on

      Tf you mean 5000 years ago, ships like the one pictured were still used into the late 1800’s and even the early 1900’s in some places

    4. People will be tracking their temu shipment get stuck in the doldrums in realtime

    5. 2012Jesusdies on

      Container ships are the last place to look for decarbonization. They’re like 4 times more CO2 efficient than freight trains and 16 times more than trucks.

    6. Interesting-Dream863 on

      If shit goes sideways in Iran we will all be sailing again in no time.

    7. GreatBallsOfFire_ on

      5000 years? Dumbass bot reposts.

      This stupid shit was wrong when it was posted the first thousand times

    8. Gutter_Snoop on

      This meme pops up here all the time.

      It’s engagement ragebait. Stop feeding the bears.

    9. That_Guy3141 on

      I’m sure most of you already realize this but sailing ships 500 years ago took months to cross the oceans. Modern ships do it in days. Instead of having to follow the currents and wind patterns, modern ships can travel largely where and when they want. 500 years ago the mortality rate aboard ship was absurd. Now it is so rare for people to die at sea that it typically makes big news when it happens. Sails are limited to wind speed at sea level. These new “kite” systems are able to get up to altitudes where wind speed is many times what it is at sea level. Modern materials science means that a new style kite sail can produce several times the trust of a traditional sail while being a fraction of the weight.

      So yes, there has been major developments in wind powered cargo shipping technology.

    10. Snooworlddevourer69 on

      These types of ships are like the 1600’s at the earliest, 5000 years ago there were only small boats

    11. I always find it funny how fundamentally old technology is improved (or otherwise altered) today and people say “iT’s A bRaNd NeW tEcHnOlOgY”. Like how the solution to cutting railway emissions is using electric trains with overhead wires or third rails, yet batteries are apparently the solution instead.

    12. MrMr_sir_sir on

      5000 years ago we were using rowboats. The most advanced ships were probably Egyptian burial vessels.

    13. My_Names_Jefff on

      Damn no wonder the Bronze Age collapsed. The damn Sea People were using sailing ships that weren’t invented and used a little over 4500 years later.

    14. future-renwire on

      5000 years ago we were basically floating across rivers on hollowed logs

    15. Abject_Interview5988 on

      People weren’t using sails like that 5,000 years ago.

      Terrible, take a lap OP

    16. PotatoLandIdaho on

      The United States Coast guard has a Nazi sailing ship in service.

    17. MegaCarnie on

      This idea pops up every few years, but there are good reasons why, despite kites being cheap and fuel being expensive, we still haven’t seen that in practice.

      Like, in the picture above, that ship (which is probably about 150-200 years old, not 5,000), has lots and lots of sails. That wasn’t because sails are fun and easy to put on a ship. Sails are complex machines that each require several operators to run effectively. And the bigger the ship, the more sails you needed.

      Now imagine a ship that is 1,000x to 10,000x heavier than that. That’s what modern cargo ships are.

    18. lol this is the pinnacle of modern technological advancement. Reinvent shit from the past and charge more for it

    19. SinisterCheese on

      The kites are installed because savings on fuel is basically the margin of cargo ships. You wouldn’t be able to comprehend how much the operations and maintenance of these ships cost. The cargo it hauls is at best covering the construction cost, everything else is margins from saving here and there.

      The structure of these ships also have a really short lifespan of around 15-25 years depending on seas they sail. Then they get sold to someone who operates in places where class and insurance companies are less strict, who operate them for some time in rather destructive manner, before sending them to be scrapped.

      If I recall right ~5 % fuel saving, is enough to justify building a new ship.

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