Labelling products that used these low carbon sail methods would be a product differentiator for the commodities they shipped. A great lakes trading route for regional craft products shipped by sail would be super interesting as well, especially for breweries and distileries.
A retro "platform" company that facilitated this and authenticated the cargo with labels akin to a fair-trade/organic and other effective luxury branding could be a thing. The great lakes and the intracoastal waterways connect markets large enough to support it, and companies could in effect audition products for it. Doing sail deliveries could be a way to offset the cost of a sailing trip as well.
This would be super neat. There's got to be a big enough cross section of craft product business owners & sailors that would at least have interest in buying into this.
Then there's Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, and that's not including the St. Lawrence seaway that has Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, then New Hampshire and Vermont. Intracoastal you can't really sail, as it's motor power, which would be off brand, but enough in the region to try it anyway.
By linking it to the low carbon footprint of sails and the geography of the waterways, the brands would be relatively resistant to pressure from globalization given it's a luxury environmental product. I know people in both sailing and heavy industry logistics who would think this was nuts, except.
Depending on trade treaties around these products, we could probably get exceptions to them on environmental grounds. Ideally there are some existing tariff protections or something that keeps these craft companies out of each others markets already that we could use the environmental path as an exception.
Valuable data point. This idea of a premium green service is the key, and beer/distileries were the examples of local products, but if there were dry goods, that would make it. Also, we can solve the preservative issue with refrigeration if it's worth it. Again, there's no ceiling on what people will pay for a luxury item that is green/local/craft etc, and we could figure out what's involved in making kegs/cans survive a great lakes transfer and price it in.
> Ships transported Hodgson's beers to India, among them his October beer, which benefited exceptionally from conditions of the voyage and was apparently highly regarded among its consumers in India.
A retro "platform" company that facilitated this and authenticated the cargo with labels akin to a fair-trade/organic and other effective luxury branding could be a thing. The great lakes and the intracoastal waterways connect markets large enough to support it, and companies could in effect audition products for it. Doing sail deliveries could be a way to offset the cost of a sailing trip as well.
Craziest idea ever.