The real competitor here is Lockheed-Martin, who has developed a hybrid airship: that combines a lighter than large structure, with an aerodynamic figure + propellers, that gets 80% of buoyancy from the helium gas.

With a first model planned to release in 2018 carrying 23 ton, for use mainly in oil&gas fields , where's it's really hard to get stuff to(so landing anywhere without an airport is a huge plus). They cost $40 million each And they already have 12 letters-of-intent for purchase. And they think they may sell hundreds per decade.

Their later model, planned for mid-2020's would carry 500 ton.

Considering that such ship doesn't require an airport, can deliver containers without landing(using cables like a SWAT team), and their fuel costs are much lower and they carry a huge weight, there's a large transportation potential for it. Some guesstimates about an hong-kong to US link, talk about a cargo lane that costs half the price of air, while only doubling transit time which is much faster than cargo ships.

So really, there's probably an up and coming industry serving the same goals as Brin's project, So maybe his project isn't needed.

But i wonder to what extent the fact that the Brin have decided to work on this field, have convinced Lockheed-Martin to go after this ?

[1]http://www.straightlineaviation.com/news/9-webnews/15-aviati...