Kite-powered German container ship enters Yokohama port

Friday 25th July, 02:21 PM JST

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14 Comments

KyouNoNippon at 02:56 PM JST - 25th July

What happens when it falls?
borscht at 07:15 PM JST - 25th July

This sounds suspiciously like something called a 'sail.' We need a photo, though, to make sure of the difference.
OssanULTRA at 07:58 PM JST - 25th July

It is effectively a sail but appearance wise more like a parachute. Or put another way an above-water wind sock.

http://www.skysails.info/
Taka313 at 08:05 PM JST - 25th July

OssanULTRA, Thanks for the link. What an incredibly logical idea.

Taka
borscht at 08:18 PM JST - 25th July

Yeah, thanks for the link. I wonder what would happen if they used more?
kinniku at 10:11 PM JST - 25th July

I wonder what would happen if they used more?

I think then the container ship would be called a dirigible.
Betting at 11:10 PM JST - 25th July

I hope they have a really big ball of string for it. And what happens if the string breaks or it gets caught up in a tree?
Youdontknow at 01:17 AM JST - 26th July

OMG! A KITE! wait... didn't they have these about 1000 years ago and call them 'SAILS'???
tokkim324 at 01:48 AM JST - 26th July

It's this http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18292644
smithinjapan at 04:01 PM JST - 26th July

As funny as this is, at least the company is DOING something, instead of trying to open up refuges to dig for yet MORE oil and bleed the world dry. If everyone put more money into more credible ideas, we'd be laughing a lot less and be in awe a whole lot more.
PepinGalarga at 04:16 PM JST - 26th July

they should have put a 2,000 year old sail on it! after all, you can't push with a rope!!! If you use a kite, you can't tack against the wind.

Why would they use such a retarded way to do this? Perhaps they only care about getting there faster. Making the trip last longer by tacking against the wind will take longer than going in a straight line with the engines on full. Pehaps the sailors on this board can provide more solid info on this.
USNinJapan2 at 06:13 PM JST - 26th July

PepinGalarga

These Skysails aren't meant to be used as a primary means of propulsion, only a secondary/additional one. A vessel, especially a commercial vessel, will normally take the shortest and most direct course to its destination. If the wind is a following/tail wind between 50 degrees relative to 310 degrees relative (relative to the vessel with 0 degrees directly ahead and 180 degrees directly astern) then this system can be used to assist the primary propulsion system. If the wind is a head wind blowing from within 50 degrees on either side of the bow (directly ahead) then the system can't be engaged without the vessel changing course to bring the wind direction within the effective wind envelope. This of course would be equivalent to a sailing vessel tacking. A commercial vessel's priority isn't to simply conserve fuel but to most quickly AND efficiently reach its destination so it would not sail out of its way (tack) just so it can use this Skysail system. From the site it looks like Skysail provides shipping companies with professional weather routing information in order to achieve maximum efficiency. Not very cool looking but pretty ingenious IMO. http://skysails.info/index.php?id=46&L=1
PepinGalarga at 01:20 AM JST - 27th July

USN, thanks for the explanation. It seems that if they use sails against the wind then the slow speed and the tacking will result in extremely slow times.

Perhaps there are other energy sources? Container ships have a lot of flat space on top, perhaps solar panels matched with hydrogen fuel cells could in a few years become feasible on a large scale. Already, one of my associated companies is making a 3Kw photovoltaic cell (70% efficiency), of the same size as a regular 200W cell (at 15% efficiency), with a 5Kw coming out next year. This is used to generate hydrogen that can then be burned 24 hours a day. Seawater is an abundant (ammonia would be the best, but not in this case), so perhaps it could be used one day. Container ships also use a lot of electricity to power A/C units in reefer units, so propulsion is not the only use for the power.
USNinJapan2 at 12:01 PM JST - 28th July

I'm aware that solar generation has come a long way these past few decades but I don't think its applicable for ocean-going vessles, not yet anyway. Ships are just too damn heavy and massive. It may be possible to generate enough electricity with solar panels to power the electrical systems on a ship so that the engines can be used solely for propulsion (thus conserving fuel), but at this point it simply takes too much power to move a heavy vessel through the water using solar energy. Another factor is that solar panels are pretty fragile and need to be kept clean of debris to be efficient. At sea these panels would be encrusted in salt and would be broken in no time...