I don’t think it’s about limiting the sail area, we got really really good at filling a mast with a shitload of sails. I’d say it’s more likely they’d get in the way of cargo un/loading. Or heaven forbid, take up space for containers.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think they are actually proper kites flying rather high (at least compared to regular sails) in approximate 300 m AGL.

The big difference is that at this hight there is significantly stronger wind.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Wanted to see what that would look like and found more info here: https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/12/20/this-huge-kite-is-dragging-cargo-ships-across-the-atlantic-ocean

[–] barrio_libre 9 points 1 year ago

Like how our 4 year old refers to the tv as the iPad on the wall.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

It's actually proper kites, at least the pioneering tech is kites. They're computer-controlled, deploying and retracting on the push of a button and navigating themselves into and out of winds to complement the main drive and controls. It's been on the market since the early 2000s and has always made economical sense, but:

There's a structural problem slowing down the process: ship owners (who have to make the investment) often don't pay for the fuel – that's the charterer's duty. The charterer on the other side doesn't charter the ship for long enough a period to make low-carbon technologies pay back.