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Lighter than Air (LTA) Delivery of Freight and Cargo
Est. Market Size - $2.5 trillion.
GREEN, SUSTAINABLE, INFRASTRUCTURE MINIMAL delivery system. Lighter than Air lifters.
The market size for freight and cargo delivery by truck / road world wide is at least $2.5 trillion. Yes that is trillion with a T. For the U.S.A. alone it is estimated to be around $800 billion. The American Trucking Association estimates the number of trucks on U.S.A. roads in 2007 was 2.9 million. By 2020 that number is thought to almost double. Of course this growth depends upon fuel prices and the over all world economic increases. Still it is obvious from driving on any of America’s freeways that they can’t handle much more traffic without road expansions. Building new highways in areas like Los Angeles is near to impossible. If it can be done, they will be very expensive and a long-time coming.
Even the Federal government has been studying methods to reduce or restrict this increase in truck traffic. Goods still need to be delivered. Along the Atlantic coast they are considering using ships to relieve such increases.
Here I propose the use of Airships instead of waterships.
Lighter-than-Air (LTA) and similar craft with heavy lifting capabilities are near prototype stage. There are a number of companies in the U.S.A. and else where around the world with cargo oriented LTA craft under development.
Are only some of the Airship manufacturers developing a viable LTA freight delivery system.
No new roads needed. The LTA flies relatively low, so no interference with Airplane traffic. Since most of these designs can hover, a specialized docking port may not be necessary. Just move to the rail yard. Haul the cargo containers up to the LTA ship. Fly over to the delivery point and crank the container back down.
Of course, this transition would not happen immediately. I see the NEW LTA delivery company start as a TOURIST viewing service company. LTA ships could safely and economically and greenly replace helicopter services. Once the safety and reliability issues were demonstrated and people just get used to seeing them, then the freight delivery service could commence. It may only be for specialized produces and metropolitan areas. But a 10% market share of $800 billion is still $80 billion. $$$$$ |
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