Airships are well-named from an economic perspective. The economics of a cargo airship are more similar to an ocean-going ship, than to any other mode of transport. Of course, they serve the opposite ends of the cargo spectrum. Ships specialize in relatively low value, bulk cargoes, while airships would serve higher-value, packaged goods, but the […]
More than any other market, intercontinental shipping is where airships can foreseeably achieve vast success. This is where engineering and economics meet and give birth to wonders. Airships’ inherent technological advantages, low fuel consumption and huge payloads enable them to capture hundreds of billions, even trillions of ton-miles’ worth of freight business from cargo jets […]
It’s an old cliché that new transportation and communication technologies “make the world smaller.” Giant airships are poised to make it happen again. They will reduce the economic distance to faraway places, so there will be more travel and especially more trade, in a new wave of globalization. One aspect of this, the topic of […]
$30-million investment by Quebec government shows foresight into emerging transportation field By Martin Cash ~ Winnipeg Free Press Recent controversy about the Quebec government investing $30 million in a French airship company was like catnip for University of Manitoba logistics professor and world renowned airship expert, Barry Prentice. Prentice has been studying airships, talking to […]
By Giuseppe Valiante ~ The Canadian Press Montreal, QC — Quebec Premier Francois Legault is dismissing naysayers who are accusing his government of wasting $30 million on a company that wants to build giant airships to transport heavy cargo around the province’s far north. The Journal de Montreal reported Tuesday that the previous Liberal government […]
A claim sometimes made by aspiring airship builders is that airships can offer a “point to point” transport solution. Airplanes, trains, and ships haul cargo long distances, then require motor vehicles to complete the “last mile” of the journey. This airship claim has some merit, but “point to point” cargo operations are likely to be […]
TRANSPORT AIRSHIPS VERSUS CARGO JETS: THE ENVIRONMENTAL CHOICE Postponed Until Further Notice Learn More and Register at: https://www.aviationinnovationsconference.com/
It was deep in swampy Siberia one night in 1929 when, far overhead in the cold sky, some people were having a little too much fun. They turned on the phonograph, danced, and got rather drunk. Captain Lehmann of the Graf Zeppelin intervened, reminding the passengers that they were on an expedition, not in a […]
By Mark Piesing (BBC) Airships lost out to conventional aircraft after a series of disastrous crashes. But now safer technology could be the key to their return. Zeppelins fill the skies of Philip Pullman’s epic trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials. The giant airships of his parallel universe carry the mail, transport soldiers into […]
The world economy relies on five major modes of transportation: airplanes, ships/barges, trains, trucks and pipelines (fluids only). Each mode utilizes, and is defined by, different technological principles. For trains, the low friction running surface created by steel wheels over steel tracks, allows them to pull huge loads with relatively little energy. For airplanes, aerodynamic […]
