Iirc sailing ships are faster than modern ships in ideal conditions, considering we have the means to plan around those conditions you’d think we’d use sails more often.
Sailing ships are considerably slower than engine driven ships, especially given they usually have to sail way the hell out of their way to chase prevailing winds.
Modern cargo vessels have to be able to do things like pass under bridges over harbor mouths that large rigging couldn’t easily do, and most require fairly clear access to the decks for cargo loading/unloading, particularly intermodal shipping containers.
You do see a strange kind of “sail” called a Flettner rotor being used on occasion, which is a fairly easy system to bolt onto a modern cargo ship, it can be raised and lowered without much of a problem, and it can improve fuel efficiency by harnessing wind.
Not all ships are bad. There is a pretty cool 3 mast sailing ship around here from time to time.
Iirc sailing ships are faster than modern ships in ideal conditions, considering we have the means to plan around those conditions you’d think we’d use sails more often.
Sailing ships are considerably slower than engine driven ships, especially given they usually have to sail way the hell out of their way to chase prevailing winds.
Modern cargo vessels have to be able to do things like pass under bridges over harbor mouths that large rigging couldn’t easily do, and most require fairly clear access to the decks for cargo loading/unloading, particularly intermodal shipping containers.
You do see a strange kind of “sail” called a Flettner rotor being used on occasion, which is a fairly easy system to bolt onto a modern cargo ship, it can be raised and lowered without much of a problem, and it can improve fuel efficiency by harnessing wind.