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> Travel times between the US and China, or between Australia and Europe, are now comparable to those of the great age of sail in the 19th century.

If this is true, why don't we all just use sailing ships, which require no fuel and produce no emissions?

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They still have to pay the sailors. The Cutty Sark had a capacity of 1,700 tons and a minimum complement of 28 [1]. By contrast Emma Maersk can carry 154,000 with only 13 Sailors [2]. The fuel savings are probably not worth ~200 times higher labor costs.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutty_Sark

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_M%C3%A6rsk

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