In the above article from The National, it's pointed out that the time it takes for Cargo to be transported from Train to Ship can be as much as 7 days in some cases. The cargo just sits stored in a warehouse the whole time, leading to a much lower average transport speed of cargo by current methods then I had originally estimated.
Obviously this is good news for Airships, as the time on delivery is 10 times that over the average ship + train + truck delivery time. Airships can also make warehouses obsolete meaning there is a bigger possibility that Airships can compete directly with our current cargo transportation infrastructure in area's already dominated by ship + truck, or ship + train trade routs in addition to servicing remote locations not currently serviced by anything reliable currently.
KNARR the largest Hybrid Airship Proposed So far.
Imagine massive Sky Freighters running nonstop from Central USA to Northern China. They would be the biggest flying machines ever constructed, dwarfing the Hindenburg at almost 4 times it's size.
I believe It's a real possibility. Hybrid Airships can never fully replace Ships or Trains, but I think it's very important to stress that time savings is money savings in business, and it could be that it's overall more expensive to move something from Northern China to Central USA via train and ship if the cargo is time sensitive, then it would be by a Massive Airship.
It's not something I anticipate seeing in my lifetime. Maybe if things had been different and the U.S.S. Macon and U.S.S. Akron had both been Hybrid Airships instead of traditional Airship we would already be living in that world. Sadly, that is not the case.
Still I am Thankful to people like Roger Monk, who took the time to sit down and think how they would make Airships work. Without forward thinkers like him, dreamers like me would still think practical Airships are impossible.
When the truth is anything but, and the dream is turning into a reality.
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