An Ancient Mariner Envisions the Future of Shipping

Sails meet artificial intelligence

Once upon a time, I was a merchant seaman.

It was supposed to be adventure. Romance. Excitement galore.

Meh. Not so much, as it turned out.

I can tell you that I sailed “,,,from tedium to apathy and back again, with an occasional side trip to monotony.” (1)

And as for seeing the world -- I certainly did.

I can say with certitude that 71% of it is covered with water. (2)

Anyway, two news items this morning got me to synthesizing this idea: the future of the maritime industry will, in part, be the ancient combined with the super new.

How about cargo ships under sail, navigating via artificial intelligence (AI)?

The aforementioned news items:

“International Chamber of Shipping Commits to Net Zero by 2050” (3)

“Self-sailing Mayflower AI Ship to Cross Atlantic Next Year” (4)

For achieving net zero, what could possibly be better than sails?

I’m not talking about common types of sails. A kite-style sail would effectively tow a ship. Rotors and turbines have been tried. Wingsails are a possibility. (5)

To be certain, this is not a panacea. Sails with AI would be only a partial solution.

Ships would have to be smaller. Cargoes would have to be durable. The vagaries of wind and ocean currents would make scheduling impossible. But I think that we can work around some of these drawbacks.

By the way -- why can’t some of today’s ships be adapted or retrofitted to become sail assisted?

Well, that’s today’s thought. Anchors aweigh!