Everything in life is somewhere else and you get it from afar.
Modern airships hold the key to a greener, more accessible global supply chain for all
From the moment I first saw the movie Titanic, I’ve been enthralled by enormous vehicles. As a six-year-old growing up in a fledgling South Africa, that was then building itself into a nation, I was inspired to build things at the cutting edge of human capability.
I focused, throughout my education, on the machines themselves; but today, I am just as captivated by the sheer scale and complexity of the global logistics system in which they operate. I am fascinated by how it works and — courtesy of work experience across the African continent — I am keenly aware of when it does not.
[The global supply chain] is responsible for much of the world’s man-made emissions and [large populations] remain isolated from its precious reach.
If you take a quick look around you, almost everything you see has been enabled by the global supply chain. It is the unceasing machine, humming in the background, driving international trade, spurring growth and development. But the machine is far from perfect; it is responsible for much of the world’s man-made emissions leading to climate change; and large portions of the global population remain isolated from its precious reach.
While the world is working on solutions to move people with zero emissions, our freight has been largely neglected. For many of the latest green technologies we build, it is possible for most of its emissions to come from the movement of its constituent parts during production. Today you can run a factory on solar power to build a zero-emissions technology — but you still have to ship it the old fashioned way.
Today you can run a factory on solar power to build a zero-emissions technology — but you still have to ship it the old fashioned way.
By way of example, consider for a moment a new Tesla model 3, that is manufactured in California and shipped to Norway . This is not a cheap shot at Tesla — just a good example of an unlikely offender that cannot help but fall prey to the outdated global logistics system — I’d demonstrate the absurd 787 supply chain, but it’s such a polluter in operation that the logistics of its manufacture play a less significant role.
For the Tesla we can reverse engineer all the steps our complete vehicle takes along it’s production journey: We start with the trip it takes from California to Norway — in a container ship that burns heavy fuel oil. Once we’re back on the factory floor things get tricky to follow:
The steel may have journeyed from Japan or Germany or Pennsylvania; it’s constituent iron ore and coal, in turn, having come potentially from as far afield as South Africa or Australia.
The lithium for its batteries is likely to have come from Argentina or Chile or again Australia. This goes on for every component in the car. Without a stretch of the imagination it becomes easy to see the mileage (and tonnage) expended on a single vehicle, even before it hits the road.
The second issue with the global supply chain is even more pressing to many. According to Lockheed Martin, more than half the world’s population has no direct access to paved roads and runways. Those people live fundamentally different lives to our own. A lack of refrigeration in a rural village doesn’t just result in food spoilage, but deprives villagers of live-saving medicines. In 2015 the World Food Programme spent virtually as much on logistics as it did on purchasing food for its relief initiatives.
In 2015 the World Food Programme spent virtually as much on logistics as it did on purchasing food for its relief initiatives.
Even in milder cases where basic infrastructure exists, such as the capitals of landlocked Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi; logistics costs can be several multiples greater than that of developed nations — crippling local economies and severely limiting export potential.
To complicate matters, building the much-needed infrastructure doesn’t always make sense, due to excessive cost, low population density and the inflexibility of resultant routes.
More than half the world’s population has no direct access to paved roads and runways.
Fortunately, these problems are not insurmountable. There exists today the technology to move goods around the world, at zero emissions, minimal incremental cost over distance and no need for extensive infrastructure in operating environments: Airships.
Whether you call them Zeppelins, dirigibles or blimps, a modern take on this interwar technology is the only form of transport that can be powered completely by solar energy and carry and load to any part of the world. With exponentially cheaper technologies that airship development has missed out on, such as materials science, autonomous navigation and energy storage; the possibilities and capabilities seem endless.
Whether you call them Zeppelins, dirigibles or blimps, [they’re] the only transport that can be powered completely by solar energy and carry a load to any part of the world.
This potential has not escaped the eye of major corporations like Lockheed Martin and Amazon, but these companies are focused on expensive designs for niche applications. There ought to be an airship that can disrupt global logistics and democratise access to the global economy, whilst addressing the growing problem of climate change. At Unleash I will be seeking like-minded problem-solvers who can help that solution take flight. Onward and upward!
