Every container a submarine

Why using ships for container transport when we can make a ship of each container. Moreover, we make a submarine of every container!

Why should we do that?

Well, it's the economy:

1. Ships are big and inflexible and cost money if not in use. Making a temporary ship of every container only when needed avoids extra costs as a result of higher supply than needed or of higher demand than can be met.

2. A ship needs a captain, which costs a lot of money. Ships and containers are going slowly, a captain is needed because big ships can damage a lot of things if out of control. So small entities of one container going along a cable directed by a computer just as an elevator lying horizontally would be a much saver and cheaper way of transport.

3. Using diesel will not be acceptable in the next decades, and electricity will likely be the alternative. Since batteries for a ship are not very suitable because of the weight and because of charging times the electricity is likely to be provided by an isolated cable on the bottom of the river (Who said road transport is still an alternative?). For a ship with one big engine needing big powers a cable is not very practical in opposition to a row of containers each powered with a small engine.

4. A ship transports a lot of containers to be delivered at several ports. The delivering of the last containers must wait until the rest is delivered. Containers that are moving independently can go as desired without going to ports just because some other container has to go there.

Ok, but how should we do that?

Well, with ordinary technology from the shelve.

1. A container is delivered by a sea ship at the port.

2. In the port the container is provided with an engine device and sealed in a (very) big bag, and provided with enough ballast or buoyancy so that the container is just a bit floating up for easy maneuvering.

3. The engine device is coupled to and gets its energy via induction from an isolated electric cable at the bottom of the river.

4. The destination port was already programmed into the container chip and transmitted to the engine chip. The engine chip now knows which way to go at diverge points of the cable.

5. The container starts its journey to the desired port, slowly and surely...

And what will be of the former captains?

Since all the rivers and canals are now available for tourism the former captains are organising the Rotterdam - Budapest hydrofoil regatta, taking tourists into their hydrofoil race sailboats.