[gigacannon]

Hey, I was told by a tutor of mine that commerical cargo vessels are very fuel efficient. This is true, a merchant naval vessel's engine is approximately 50% efficient; only half of the fuel energy is converted to heat.

However, a cargo ship burns huge quantities of fuel because it is so massive. It got me wondering, what sort of vehicles will last the longest as oil rises in price?

I'm interested in compiling data on several vehicles to determine a value; kilometres per litre of diesel/gasoline per kilogram of the vehicle (including cargo capacity). I'd like to compare an average containership, oil tanker, bulk cargo vessel, breakbulk cargo vessel, and a lorry, for comparing the fuel efficiency of transports, and also the efficiency of a normal car, train, passenger vessel (say, a small cruise liner), and an aeroplane.

I suppose to make it fair, each 'efficiency value' could be multiplied by the joules per litre to show how energy efficient the vehicle is.

Does anyone have this information, or at least some of it, to hand? I started looking but I'm not too good at this sort of research and would appreciate a helping hand to start with.

[pup55]

Trains

Autos

Trucks

Aircraft

There was a thread in the general discussion forum recently about the fuel consumption of a grain hauling ship, and another recently about railway fuel consumption, so I suggest you use the "search" feature above for useful links.

Happy calculating!

[gigacannon]

Thanks! I'll get to work on it after I have a shower, I think...

I am expecting that shipping will be the most efficient transport medium, and if so, I'm expecting that electrically-powered trains and ships will be the primary transporters of cargo in the next century, with trucks and aeroplanes phased out. This would cause a consolidation of population into major cities, although rising sea levels could cause havoc for the shipping industry, mainly because of the drowning of ports.