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Comment by simgt | Hacker News Reader

Sails [0] [1] [2] are obviously more sustainable than the gigantic industry needed around batteries this size. That'd of course massively increase the cost of shipping and suddenly producing most things locally would make more economical sense. Bye bye £2 jeans from Shein.

[0] https://www.towt.eu/en/home/

[1] https://www.neoline.eu/

[2] https://graindesail.com/fr/voilier-cargo-grain-de-sail-3/

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Sorry this makes zero sense. The low price of shipping comes from the huge size of ships. All these 100% sailing ventures are just so someone can sell you gourmet coffee with a nice story at outrageous prices

You really should try to read up to at least the second sentence of a comment before hitting reply.

I wonder how much the jeans would cost if the price of shipping (i.e. the cost per container ocean mile) were to double.

I searched a little bit and found these numbers for t-shirts in a 20 foot container:

- Shipping container from China to the US: $3000-$9000 (tariffs?)

- Number of t-shirts per container: 35000

How much heavier are jeans than t-shirts? 10 times? That would mean an increase of $2.50 if container shipping costs double.

I think the volume is what defines the cost for cargo shipping so your 10x is likely pessimistic. $2.50 is both significant relative to the price of one these jeans and not much compared to what has been the expected cost of a pair for decades.

It says more about how dirt cheap shipping is the single enabler of globalization, even doubling the cost may not be enough to significantly shorten the supply chains.

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