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Re:DHL Set to Transport Goods on New Wind-Powered Cargo Ships by __sy__ on Monday June 22, 2026 @11:50AM (#48631908)
This was my exact intuition. At 450 metric ton, we're three orders of magnitude away from what large container ships can do. It's a nice PoC but this is clearly just PR from DHL.

Air freight is also an odd comparison since it's usually time-sensitive and/or pricey ($100+ per pound).

Re:DHL Set to Transport Goods on New Wind-Powered Cargo Ships by wongarsu on Monday June 22, 2026 @12:52PM (#48632692)
It's DHL. If you want your package or pallet shipped to some island it might take a long while until a big container ship makes the next stop there. If it can stop there at all. For a package/freight company, the capability to run ships on your schedule to small harbors is valuable. And a catamaran could be a competitive alternative to other smaller container ships

What I don't understand is that they are talking about running it trans-Atlantic. Taking longer than a normal container ship, while taking less cargo. You save on fuel, but surely the crew costs must be eating up all those savings. And you're not really faster. Unless the plan is to go point-to-point between smaller harbors, making up any lost time by saving on cargo handling time

Re:DHL Set to Transport Goods on New Wind-Powered Cargo Ships by throwaway173738 on Monday June 22, 2026 @02:34PM (#48634102)
You might not need much crew for a vessel that small. Automation can take care of most of it, and with the right equipment the ship can basically sail itself. Then you just need a captain and maybe some maintenance crew to keep the automation running.
Re:DHL Set to Transport Goods on New Wind-Powered Cargo Ships by b40d-48b2-979e on Monday June 22, 2026 @01:50PM (#48633469)
Your crew isn't emitting hundreds of tons of CO2 burning the dirtiest fuel available on earth, though.
Re:DHL Set to Transport Goods on New Wind-Powered Cargo Ships by Arnt on Monday June 22, 2026 @12:54PM (#48632716)
Smallish container ships are used a lot. Look at traffic from the big ports like Rotterdam to small ports like Orkanger or Kristiansand.

A lot of containers take a small-ship trip after the big-ship one.