Originally posted by Me…
I'm posting 'cause I said I would… Will ships still be relevant in SD? Maybe, maybe not. There's no real push for it now, but ground effect could move freight off the sea, to just above it.The Russians, during the cold war built the largest lifting capacity transport ever, nicknamed the Caspian Sea Monster. It works on the principal of ground effect... if you fly close to the ground, there's less drag, and the reflection off the surface provides more lift. This huge aircraft few like 10-30 off the surface of the caspian sea, and carried twice the weight of standard cargo aircraft of it's size, using 1/3 of the fuel. If this were ever developed, it could make air freight (over the ocean) more competetive price-wise with ocean freight (on the ocean)... then the speed of air freight would be worth the price that ground-effect craft could provide.
SPLATJOB