Cargo clipper sails back to the future
A cargo carrying clipper ship based on technology used for the Maltese Falcon is being developed for B9 Shipping.
The age-old sight of clipper rig cargo ships might make a return to coastal, short sea and possibly even ferry routes.
Naval architect Rob Humphreys told MJ about a development that has been on and off the burner for a number of years, but he is now of the opinion that “it’s an idea whose time may well have come”, pushed by escalating emissions standards and the rising cost of fuel.
He explained that the project, which is being developed for B9 Shipping, is based on something similar to the Dynarig concept, having a set up rather like the well known luxury yacht the Maltese Falcon.
The Dynarig idea is actually a 1960s invention of the German hydraulics engineer Wilhelm Prölss, which was intended to operate commercial freight sailing ships with as small a crew as possible.
The vessel would feature three free standing, rotatable masts, holding some fifteen square sails between them. These might be stored on or even inside the masts, fully unfurling onto tracks along the yards in very short order (the Maltese Falcon manages it in six minutes). However, the Maltese Falcon is, after all, a luxury yacht and not a commercial cargo vessel. Certain elements, like the Maltese Falcon’s very expensive carbon spars, would probably not feature on the new clipper.
Mr Humphreys added that this novel design would be something of an antidote to the usual argument for ever larger ships, which is often justified by ‘the need for economies of scale’.
“Yes, you might change the patterns of call, because you might need to run, say, four ships on a route instead of three, but if you are taking the fuel element out of the question, you may find yourself ahead in costs”, he said.
However, he concedes that something like this needs a certain amount of faith in the project’s ability to come to completion, and faith that it will be taken on as a serious alternative, overcoming the usual scepticism about the truly innovative. There may also be some mileage in the project’s novelty value – it might make a very literal flagship statement for a number of companies which wish to show their green credentials.
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