Airship transportation system cargolifter

The economics of truck door-to-door delivery decrease with distance, while the benefits of cargo airships generally increase with the length of haul. As far as commercial logistics is concerned, the last mile delivery is from the wholesale distribution centre (DC) by truck to retail stores. In general, the minimum efficient payload sizes for giant airshipsвЂ™ will be too large to be economical for most вЂњlast mileвЂќ applications that involve general freight movements to the retail consumer. The very last mile is provided by the customer, hauling goods home in a car. Notwithstanding the growth of online shopping, most goods are not delivered door-to-door. Varialift and Worldwide Aeros have both followed this route, but the economic feasibility of gas compression is yet to be proven. The other proposed solution to eliminate ballasting is to use a gas compression system to offset the weight of the cargo delivery. Their ability to position a load vertically would be quite limited. However, these vehicles are designed to land and take-off from a short landing strip. The hybrid airship is heavier than air when empty and does not need ballasting to return to base. The FLYING WHALES concept is still at the design stage.ДЄnother alternative is to use a hybrid airship as proposed by Lockheed-Martin and Hybrid Air Vehicles. The CargoLifter load transfer system was successfully tested using a large 75-tonne lift balloon. Whereas the CargoLifter airship would lower a load platform that contained ballast tanks to be filled on the ground, the FLYING WHALES design envisions pumping/lifting water into the hovering airship. The FLYING WHALES airship is also designed to provide point-to-point deliveries using water ballast.

The economics of the CargoLifter system limited it to large, high-value, indivisible freight, but this is exactly what it was designed to carry. The CargoLifter CL160 design required some destination preparation for a complex anchoring system and on-site source of water for ballasting. The means to transfer cargo between a hovering airship and the ground (ladders, cables) also needs to consider ballast exchange. Landing will need stations, or at least large fields and perhaps some preparation. But landing safely and quickly is harder. They can go to and hover over most destinations, putting them at an advantage compared to planes, trains and ships. Where airships have to compete with established infrastructure, the case is more difficult to make.ДЄirships can go the last mile in a sense. Certainly, in areas without roads, airship services could be transformative.

Aspiring airship entrepreneur, Andre Houssney, has coined the term вЂњRoadless RevolutionвЂќ to describe the all-aerial supply chains that might emerge in the age of giant airships. Where airships can offer вЂњpoint to pointвЂќ transport could lead to big changes in everyday logistics and distribution. For most general freight, cargo airships are likely to be more complementary to trucking, rather than competitive. Trucks can make door-to-door deliveries very well and have an entrenched, large market share. Last-mile freight applications require fine control, efficient transshipment, complementary communications technologies and price competitiveness. The airplane does the вЂњlong haulвЂќ component of such a journey, the taxicab does the вЂњlast mile,вЂќ which obviously need not be literally a mile. This principle is familiar to anyone who has made a long journey by airplane to an airport in a distant city, followed by a short drive to get to a specific address. Often this differs from the mode that gets the freight most of the way there. In logistics and communications, the вЂњlast mileвЂќ refers to the link that brings cargo, passengers, or information to the final destination. This airship claim has some merit, but вЂњpoint to pointвЂќ cargo operations are likely to be limited to special projects, rather than routine deliveries.

Airplanes, trains, and ships haul cargo long distances, then require motor vehicles to complete the вЂњlast mileвЂќ of the journey. A claim sometimes made by aspiring airship builders is that airships can offer a вЂњpoint to pointвЂќ transport solution.

Airship transportation system cargolifter