Airships - I Think Not !!!

Firstly apologies for the lack of blogs lately.

The pressures of keeping the Directory current have necessitated neglecting something and the blog was it (alright, alright the Captain has just left the bridge for an extended period).

I hope we shall go back to regular rants at the world.

Starting Now.

According to a report in yesterday’s Guardian we in the shipping world are about to see a revolution in transport logistics.

Apparently we are on the brink of starting to use ‘blimps’ otherwise known as airships to ferry our cargoes around the world.

Now call me a cynic, and I know many of you do, but this must surely have been written by Phil Space, he of Private Eye fame. The final paragraph of the guardian report ends “The craze for blimps came to an abrupt halt after the death of many people when the Hindenburg caught fire in New Jersey, US. However research and development languished but never halted."

The clue would seem to be right there - that bit about death just somehow catches my eye.

Now if any of you don't know the fate of the Hindenburg, it prompted one of the most evocative, and famous, pieces of radio journalism in history.

And therein, Ms Juliette Jowit author of this sterling piece, lies the clue.

The problem with your article is it is patently written by someone with little or no knowledge of logistics after reading a report by someone who is being paid to investigate any way possible to cut carbon emissions, no matter how crazy the notions.

But what about that friendly looking Goodyear blimp?

That never has a problem does it?

Take a gander sweetheart.

Yes, blimps can lift a lot of weight, yes they can travel relatively quickly these days.

The problem is dear JJ that they have the aeronautical qualities of the same Helium balloons you let go of at country fairs which then fly off to be found by a child in Ethiopia or Tunbridge Wells or, far more likely to end up starving a sea turtle who thinks they’re a jellyfish.

They not only don’t come close to the tiny percentage of world freight shipped by air in terms of delivery times, there is no guarantee you can launch them in even a mild blow.

Just imagine, in recent times we have seen ships carried miles inland by the force of storms, we have seen New Orleans devastated, Haiti ruined all by the power of nature.

How much will it cost Ms Jowit to get you out from behind your laptop and onto the end of an airships mooring rope in a relatively moderate force six?

Or you might face unforeseen and fatally mysterious problems like the one which destroyed the USS Macon as shown here in this hitherto unseen video......

I am sure there is room for a little more use of dirigibles in transport but the only way to find out the limitations is liable to cost more in terms of financial investment, and more particularly human life, than most would think worthwhile. As a sales pitch to draw the ever ready save the planet vote blimps may be fine, but for moving cargo in quantity and to make a REAL difference let’s just concentrate on practical ways to shift our goods around the world, use local sources wherever possible and leave it to the experts who haven’t got a vested interest. So I leave you with one last video which is symbolic, if not accurate when traditional shipping methods are faced by the "new" technology of airship logistics.

Comments

[Bob @ Freight Trucking]

Easy target for terrorists!

[Captain P]

Yes Indeed Bob, I should think you could take one of those out with just about anything.

[Richard]

The Goodyear blimp looked like a whale! LOL

[car shipping]

Airships could do well if developed properly and safely. Everyone knoes about the disaster you mentioned above. That was the reason why companies stopped development of airships. But latest technology improvements could spark more interest in airships. Hopefully, some day we see more of them floating in the air. Best, Tobias from carsshippingcompanies.com

[Barista Uno]

Yes, why not airships? They would be perfect for short-haul transport. As for safety, how many Fedex planes have crashed? Not to mention Russian cargo planes.

[Captain P]

All perfectly fine, but I can't get away from that image of a balloon swirling helplessly in the wind. As for short haul would it be worth it for the small payload what with the time to load etc. My guess is is that if this was practical we'd already be doing it in some form. Look at the effect of wind on land bound structures and then think of trying to hold a big kite in a high wind let alone a massive airship!

[Air Jordan]

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

[ClubPenguinCheats]

Everyone knoes about the disaster you mentioned above. That was the reason why companies stopped development of airships.