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Cargo Airships Are Happening

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Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#201

Post by numpad0 »

scottLobster wrote: post #170
danielovichdk wrote: post #126

This reads as a technologist that has absolutely no clue about anything regarding the shipping or the logistics industry. I hope someone told these guys what the spent is on new (water) ships globally, because it points only in one direction.

Yeah, it seems like every attempt at an airship company for the last 70 years or so just ends up speed-running the development of modern travel/logistics that makes airships obsolete. Same way crypto is/was speed-running the need for modern financial regulation. On a broader scale I also wonder if we're near the top of a technological S-curve. It's worth remembering that until the industrial revolution the average pa…

I think it's more like the Western economy is silently crashing than technological development having reverted back to ~19th century rate, although the latter is said to be happening too - something feels wrong about tech lately.

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#202

Post by dotancohen »

mcculley wrote: post #94
nielsbot wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah--I came here to highlight this too. I think all the legacy systems around international shipping won't permit direct to consumer pick up and delivery. Unless someone can show me an existing example?

In the U.S., a shipping company that is also a registered “Importer/Exporter of Record” can move stuff directly. I ran a tugboat business and we had all of the required paperwork to file directly with U.S. Customs. In many cases, we moved cargo too big to be transferred at a port or terminal.

  > I ran a tugboat business
Wildly OT, but this company and informed discussion is what kept me on /. and keeps me on HN.

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#203

Post by renewiltord »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #134
danielovichdk wrote: post #126

This reads as a technologist that has absolutely no clue about anything regarding the shipping or the logistics industry. I hope someone told these guys what the spent is on new (water) ships globally, because it points only in one direction.

[flagged]

I get why someone will have the conservative position. I even get that someone enjoys schadenfreude at people who are not conservative. I just don’t get why someone who has low risk-tolerance would come to a startup forum to express their low risk-tolerance.

That would be like if I spent any amount of time on child-free subreddits or on forums about stanced cars.

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#204

Post by Ajedi32 »

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…

What makes you think "docks with extremely strong mooring structures" is a particularly difficult problem to solve? A giant metal hook anchored in concrete attached to the ship with some steel cables doesn't seem like it would be that difficult for a team of smart engineers with a multi-million dollar budget to figure out a good design for. Certainly not so difficult or expensive as to threaten to make the entire concept nonviable.

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#205

Post by giantrobot »

fulafel wrote: post #55
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…

I think if that was the biggest problem, they'd be used much more. There are a lot of places with light and regular winds, and we're also pretty good at predicting winds in the 1 day forward timescale. And of course there's the regular and predictable high winds that were traditionally used by sail ships.

Even a light wind with a giant sail area is dangerous. An empty 20ft shipping container weighs about two tons. If it's hanging from an airship and the wind causes it to shift even a foot it'll kill you dead if it hits you. If it hit a light frame building it would bust right through a wall. It would also easily knock down a non-reinforced cinder block wall.

A cargo airship would lowering cargo would essentially be an incredibly dangerous crane. The sail area of the airship makes it far more dangerous than lowering external cargo with a helicopter.

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#206

Post by cma »

scoofy wrote: post #193
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…

Longshoremen, lines at limited numbers of ports, etc., there a lots of problems that airships can solve simply by allowing airship ports to exist in, say, Kansas. The need for specific geological features dramatically limits the amount of ports we can have, which seriously affects costs. If you could build a single, tiny airship point in every major city, you could save a bundle, and likely be close enough to the des…

Is it for bulkier but lightweight stuff that trains can't handle or something?

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#207

Post by ToucanLoucan »

renewiltord wrote: post #203
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I get why someone will have the conservative position. I even get that someone enjoys schadenfreude at people who are not conservative. I just don’t get why someone who has low risk-tolerance would come to a startup forum to express their low risk-tolerance. That would be like if I spent any amount of time on child-free subreddits or on forums about stanced cars.

Well for one, the topics covered on here are far broader than just startups. And for two, a lot of the ones that are startups are actually interesting, they're trying to solve actual problems. In fact, putting aside the incompetence, this one I would say falls into that category.

That said, not all ideas are created equal, and IMO at least, this one is not, and what makes it fall short is so obvious that I have trouble treating it as a serious proposition on the part of the people behind it, let alone one worth putting money into.

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#208

Post by dbingham »

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…

Airships could potentially be electric and solar powered. That would insulate it from fuel cost fluctuations. It would also resolve the issue with refueling.

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#209

Post by MichaelZuo »

closewith wrote: post #155
MichaelZuo wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In which countries are they legally identical, or even mostly identical, to the customs facilities commonly found in international airports?

Re: Cargo Airships Are Happening

#210

Post by brcmthrowaway »

n_jd wrote: post #111
VyseofArcadia wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Crack engineer" means an engineer who is smart and capable. "Cracked engineer" means an engineer who is insane.

It's just how the kids and the terminally online are saying it these days

Cracked founders!
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