this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
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Mærsk is testing wind and electrical power on their fleet. Won't make the ships 100% self-sufficient, but will hopefully lower the impact of the vessels.
Flettner rotors can cause fuel reductions of 10-20% [source]. Definitely not nothing, but you still need some way to fuel the ship, those rotors don't turn on their own and are AFAIK not used as main propulsion.
I've heard of these things called "sails". Maybe they could look into those.
those are sails, they're just weird
They work. However they are a lot slower - by enough that no shipping company can compete using them. I'm not clear on if they scale to the size of modern ships either.
Pretty sure they don't, at least not as a total replacement. Reducing fuel usage is still a possibility maybe.
They 100% work - just as well as they did in 1700. The slow speed means nobody will use them exclusively. I'm not sure if they need extra labor as well (assuming modern controls) but that is another potential reason nobody would use them. They couD though.
Old sail ships could get stuck for days without wind.