Whilst doing my media sweep for work.

(Bringing transport related stories to the attention of senior officers)

I came across this story from the Times Online

I vaguely remember that some clipper ships like the Cutty Sark could out run some of the early steam ships of its day.

So perhaps it is time to bring back these clipper ships as it was a proven design.

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Ah, "Return to Sail?"; at first thought something to return to a store.
Nice find---clipper ships are gorgeous, and the Cutty Sark itself made headlines just last year here.

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I think if you want wind powered cargo ships, charging an onboard flow battery using electricity from wind turbines might be more practical. Using biodiesel is also another option and one which works in current ships.

I was almost expecting the "gotcha" that makes this just another meaningless expensive green story best suited for hype... but this one actually sounds promising (at least for non perishibles)

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From the article:

That's comparing its top speed to the average speed of a bulk cargo carrier. (About 13-16 knots.) A container ship might average around 23 knots. A clipper could average around 9 knots, depending on route. The largest clipper was about 4,000 tons, most much less. A typical container ship might be 8,000-15,000.

Modern cargo and container ships are a proven design too.

If the modern use of clipper ships is going to be anything more than a stunt, it comes down to time and money. The company I work for ships tons of product overseas, by both airfreight and ship. The choice comes down to time/money - airfreight is faster but much more expensive. If we are pressed for a delivery date, we eat the cost, otherwise it goes by ship.

The clipper ship is even slower, so the only way we would even think of using it would be if it was a lot cheaper. I haven't looked at the economics, but I doubt it will be.

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A fellow here in Texas had a similar idea, but it didn't work out as planned.

They had hoped the boat would be the beginning on an environmentally friendly business importing coffee to the United States. RedCloud was bringing its first cargo home from Belize when the Butchers and Joe’s brother, Doug Butcher, 47, lost their engine and then encountered heavy weather in the Gulf.
(edit)
All indications are that the 42-foot steel sailboat and its cargo of about 4,000 pounds of Central American coffee sank in the Gulf of Mexico about 240 miles south of Galveston.
http://galvestondailynews.com/story....bd56eeb07bdcd7

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You might find this interesting
In 1854, the Northern Light participated in the only head-to-head race of the clipper ship era, leaving San Francisco two days behind two highly regarded clipper ships from the New York school of clipper ship design, all three headed for the East Coast of the United States. Even with the communications technology of the day, the whole nation was able to follow the race as other ships would sight the three contestants and then telegraph their sighting from the nearest port. When the Northern Light was spotted charging into Boston harbor under full sail, days ahead of the competition, it touched off a wild victory celebration that rocked through the streets of the city for four days.

The record for that voyage from San Francisco around Cape Horn to an east coast port of 76 days 8 hours stood until the 1990s when the record was broken by a high-tech catamaran using satellite navigation, modern weather reporting, and being purpose built for speed (the clipper ships were freighters and carried a full load of cargo on every trip). How many other vehicle speed records have stood for 150 years?

The article doesn't say, but I presume the record is for the fastest sail-powered ship. What's the distance from San Francisco to Boston around Cape Horn?

That would be my presumption. But; I also thought; who would be trying to go quickly on that route once the Panama Canal was completed?

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The Gulf gets warm enough in the summer that you just had to sink some boat loads of sugar cane and non-fat dry milk and we would have had some wake-up for all those oil platform personnel.

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Several large cargo ships have experimented with moden sails, essentially, airfoils, to augment propulsion and save energy. With the cost of diesal through the roof, it makes even more sense these days.

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Hi Sticks, I like to sail. Earlier this month, I was a guest on my
sister's power boat, a Pacemaker...maybe 55 feet long. Twin detroit 92's.
In view of the fuel, we just trolled along with a couple of lines out.
Her husband ,Stanley , winked at me and said that the sailboat people were laughing at him.
To which I replied that " No, Stanley. They aren't laughing at you.
......but......they are 'a little smug' !"

When fuel gets high enough, sail starts looking better and better.
Nice to have a kicker to manuver in port, against wind and tide, but let the wind do the lion's share of the heavy lifting.
Best regards, Dan

Yeah. Don´t use them to distribute the Beaujolais Nouveau...

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I dont see sails taking the place of container ships, but if they are right, and can build and maintain the sailing ships and then actually ship cheaper, I can see them being very good in certain niches. Short range coastal work could be a good spot. I dont think they will get much traction in transoceanic shipping because they will still be a little too dependent on the wind.

On the other hand, it might be cool to take a sailing ship on a cruise.

Well, quite a few of the largest cargo ships are too big for the Panama Canal.

Of course, they still wouldn't do that route. Cargo for that route would probably go by rail instead.

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Let's see, if a clipper could carry around 500 tons of cargo and averages one third the speed of a container ship, then you'd only need about a hundred or so to do the job of one large modern container ship. And ports would need to be expanded to deal with the congestion and maintenance and repair.

A wooden clipper might last 20 years before being scrapped, if they didn't come apart before that. Modern steel hulls might last 25-35 years. Since so many more tons of sail ships will be needed to move the same amount of cargo as today, a lot more money and energy would have to be spent on building them.

They could easily be larger than 500 tons, and use steel hulls. Just because they would use wind power wouldn't mean that you would have to abandon all other parts of modern shipbuilding.

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