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Cargo Airships Are Happening

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Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#151

Post by mananaysiempre »

danw1979 wrote: post #147
voidUpdate wrote: post #93

> "But for air freight service, end-to-end delivery takes a week or more, involving multiple parties: in addition to the air carrier and freight forwarder, at both the origin and destination, there is a trucking company, a warehouse, a customs broker, and an airport. Each touchpoint adds cost, delay, and the risk of theft or breakage." How does an airship solve any of those problems? Its still got to go through custo…

It doesn’t. The author is dreaming that airships might be able to just drop cargo off anywhere and I guess customs just happens in software somehow. Nor is it clear how they are refuelled, or how they are immune from the same fluctuations in fuel cost as conventional cargo aircraft. But what is clear is that you should “possibly invest” in his syndicate which is funding all this…

Customs in software is already a bit of a thing, judging from what postal tracking reports on occasion. I guess that doesn’t obviate the need for physical inspections, but it should make them faster.

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#152

Post by UncleOxidant »

danw1979 wrote: post #147
voidUpdate wrote: post #93

> "But for air freight service, end-to-end delivery takes a week or more, involving multiple parties: in addition to the air carrier and freight forwarder, at both the origin and destination, there is a trucking company, a warehouse, a customs broker, and an airport. Each touchpoint adds cost, delay, and the risk of theft or breakage." How does an airship solve any of those problems? Its still got to go through custo…

It doesn’t. The author is dreaming that airships might be able to just drop cargo off anywhere and I guess customs just happens in software somehow. Nor is it clear how they are refuelled, or how they are immune from the same fluctuations in fuel cost as conventional cargo aircraft. But what is clear is that you should “possibly invest” in his syndicate which is funding all this…

A smuggler's dream.

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#153

Post by UncleOxidant »

hazmazlaz wrote: post #139
Thorrez wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure about how they solve customs, but the picture shows an airship dropping cargo directly off at a warehouse (avoiding trucks).

I guarantee that's not going to be a viable option. No nation, especially China or the USA, is going to allow an aircraft free access to land unknown cargo at a random warehouse without going through customs. It's going to have to land at some kind of airfield just like a cargo plane would.

Next article: Transparent Airships Are Happening

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#154

Post by pantalaimon »

LordHeini wrote: post #73

Sounds good does not work. Reminds me of CargoLifter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CargoLifter The german article states that the price the Zeppelin GmbH (yes those guys) calculated, that the costs of transportation via airship, would be about 10 times as high as conventional methods. CargoLifter used helium which is stupidly expensive, this is supposed to use hydrogen and more modern materials but i think that does…

> As you burn fuel you must either gain weight or vent gas.

Can't you just compress lifting gas to reduce it's volume?

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#155

Post by closewith »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #142
closewith wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that I put any credence into the idea in the article, but for your particular question, the same way it occurs now at airports - bonded warehouses.

Which airports have bonded warehouses but do not already host customs facilities or agents? I think that has to come after, not before.

I don't know if you're aware, but bonded warehouses are customs facilities. The vast majority of goods never pass through a Government customs facility.

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#156

Post by bee_rider »

dylan604 wrote: post #146
xnyan wrote: post #6

The (biggest) problem that keeps airships from practical use is that they are huge sails. Big sails mean even small amounts of wind can be powerful forces acting on the airship. In the air a big push from the wind might be safely managed, but if you're near anything solid such as the ground, you can get smashed to bits. To safely operate a suitably efficient (large) airship, we'd need both huge specialized docks with…

Just cover the thing in solar, and run it on electric. Add a couple of wind turbines too. I mean, the whole concept is preposterous, so why not just lean into it?

Solar powered airships floating around the world, following the prevailing winds, accepting durable goods by… catapult or something, delivery by chucking it out the window over populated areas. Paint them some nice pastel colors and we’re in Solarpunk world.

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#157

Post by Ekaros »

bee_rider wrote: post #156
dylan604 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just cover the thing in solar, and run it on electric. Add a couple of wind turbines too. I mean, the whole concept is preposterous, so why not just lean into it?

Solar powered airships floating around the world, following the prevailing winds, accepting durable goods by… catapult or something, delivery by chucking it out the window over populated areas. Paint them some nice pastel colors and we’re in Solarpunk world.

Jet packs and tax free shopping as next step. Wait for your friendly airship to come around and go get your duty free stuff somehow... Surely there is some places they can visit on the way so it counts...

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#158

Post by DonnyV »

rtkwe wrote: post #105
xg15 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure how realistic, but could the inspectors go to the airship instead? They are not planes: Not only can they "park" while airborne, but at least there were concepts of boarding/unboarding in the air as well: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/realestate/26scapes.html

They could in theory but I'm dubious governments will be willing to shape their customs enforcement to accommodate this company. Best case I think they might be able to do a drop off at a place for customs inspections and pick them up again with a different craft once cleared.

I bet they would change their workflow if it was an Amazon warehouse. Amazon could change the rules in DC.Accomodate for certain size warehouses.

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#160

Post by Ajedi32 »

Qwertious wrote: post #114
bondarchuk wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're both missing the forest for the trees, when the airship is electric obviously you don't have to add ballast while flying because you don't have to compensate for burnt fuel.

The ballast is for cargo, which needs to be picked up and dropped off. Fuel is just a potential solution.

Why condense water from fuel or the air then when you can just connect to the local municipal water system? You're already at port!
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