Transport

HyperPort would fire shipping containers around at transonic speeds

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Standard gantry cranes can transfer containers into freight capsules
Hyperloop Transport Technologies
Standard gantry cranes can transfer containers into freight capsules
Hyperloop Transport Technologies
The HyperPort cargo capsule is sized for standard and tall shipping containers
Hyperloop Transport Technologies
Sure is a pretty shipping hub
Hyperloop Transport Technologies
HyperloopTT has designed a full port logistics hub ready to plug into a hyperloop system
Hyperloop Transport Technologies
Hyperloop tunnels would stretch across continents, allowing high-efficiency, ultra-high-speed transport
Hyperloop Transport Technologies
HyperloopTT has built a full-size prototype passenger module
Hyperloop Transport Technologies
HyperloopTT's full-size, 320-meter long test track is operational in France
Hyperloop Transport Technologies
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Hyperloop Transport Technologies has presented an ultra-high-speed shipping port logistics system it says can shift up to 2,800 containers a day, covering hundreds of kilometers in minutes – while decreasing emissions wherever it's rolled out.

The whole thing would be like a giant cargo-carrying version of the pneumatic tube systems that once blasted thousands of messages around every hour, back when things were all black and white. As long as those things were around, innovators dreamed of one day building scaled-up versions big enough to move passengers and cargo.

The hyperloop dream, of course, takes it all to the next level. Mag-lev rails eliminate rolling resistance, and hundreds of kilometers of sealed tubes would be vacuum-evacuated to nearly eliminate air resistance. Thus, most of the energy you use to accelerate a capsule up to supersonic speeds (don't worry, there's not enough air in there to create a sonic boom) can be recovered at the other end with minimal losses. Super-fast, super-efficient and pretty damn cool.

And that's the model here with HyperloopTT's port logistics system, which it's spent some 20,000 hours developing in partnership with Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG of Germany, a logistics and transport company that runs a number of container terminals and has a business name that makes it all sound a lot more exciting than it probably is.

The HyperPort cargo capsule is sized for standard and tall shipping containers
Hyperloop Transport Technologies

HyperloopTT is one of a few key companies pushing this kind of technology forward. It's already drawn in some pretty decent funding, and employs more than 800 people across its many offices in North and South America, Europe and the Middle East. It's built a full-size prototype passenger capsule measuring 32 m (105 ft) long, featuring the company's own proprietary "Inductrack" mag-lev technology and sensor-embedded "Vibranium" carbon fiber skin.

It's laid out some 320-odd m (1,050 ft) of fully functional test track in France, vacuumed down to hundred-pascal pressure levels lower than what you'd get at altitudes over 38,000 m (125,000 ft). It's long enough to do some initial tests, but obviously not to approach the 1,220+ km/h (760 mph) top speed the passenger system is projected to hit when it's got some room. The company has signed some exciting-looking deals in India, China, the USA and the United Arab Emirates over the last six or so years, but no full-scale implementation seems to be under construction yet.

HyperloopTT's full-size, 320-meter long test track is operational in France
Hyperloop Transport Technologies

Fair enough; the World Bank estimated in 2014 that even a regular high-speed train track costs somewhere between US$17 million (in China) and $56 million (in California) per kilometer of track. And that's without putting the whole thing in a huge, airtight tube with vacuum pumps and some of the largest, strongest mechanical pressure valves ever built dotted along its length. The up-front capital cost of a cross-continental supersonic hyperloop system would be epic – but once up and running, HyperloopTT says it could deliver "airplane speeds at freight costs."

The HyperPort development proposes to plug container shipping logistics into the mix, with freight capsules designed to open at the top and accept either two standard 6-meter (20-ft) shipping containers or one double-length 12 to 13.7-m (40 to 45-ft) unit, dropped in and picked up by the same sorts of gantry cranes that already load and unload container ships. Freight speeds would be limited to around 965 km/h (600 mph), so either the passenger pods would have to slow down to this speed as well, or separate tracks would be needed.

It's all very pretty and futuristic-looking, and HyperloopTT says it's designed everything to meet current industry standards. The HyperPort is now being submitted for certification design review, and the company says the next step will be a VR demonstration, to be presented at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg this October.

HyperloopTT has built a full-size prototype passenger module
Hyperloop Transport Technologies

It's a long and winding road from concept to reality, obviously. And while a solution like this would indeed be much faster and greener than the battalions of trucks that get the job done today, battery and fuel cell trucks are on the way, ready to haul containers to anywhere roads can take them, with zero local emissions.

The crazy speeds promised by the HyperPort will come at a hefty cost, but they could cut down a lot of road miles and get things moving even faster in a world whose patience grows ever shorter. I wonder if we'll see this kind of thing get done – vacuum tube transport seemed just years away back in the 1800s too. Between Virgin Hyperloop, HyperloopTT, TransPod and other companies, it seems investors feel this kind of thing is ready for prime time.

Check out a video below.

Source: HyperloopTT

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10 comments
EJ222
When you factor in the construction costs, there's no way this works out to be a low emissions system.
paleochocolate
A VR demonstration!!!! This just get's better and better lol
paul314
Most freight is way more tolerant of acceleration and other interesting events than people are. Vibration, occasional stoppages, occasional catastrophic failures would all be at most issues for insurance companies if you were just handing freight. It's like the difference between the kind of internet you need for file transfer and the kind you need for bufferless streaming.
John Toothaker
I had the pleasure of viewing a mock-up of a very similar system designed for personal transport. NYC to Los Angeles in under 1 hour. Magnetically levitated, pulse DC powered inside a vacuum tube. Vacuum maintained by natural volcanic steam jets. Speeds way in excess of Mach 2. Of course it was pure fantasy. The year was 1977 and the place was MIT in Cambridge, MA. Godspeed to Virgin Hyperloop, Hyperloop TT, Transpod and the rest of those who can not only see the future, but build it.
Leif Knutsen
Renewable powered high speed rail would be far less expensive to build and far more versatile. Breaking trains could even be contributing power into the grid to help off-set acceleration requirements.
-dphiBbydt
This is a good stepping-stone to similar technology for human transport. If you think about freight in containers, initially, speed is not really a big issue. They have just spent 20 odd days plodding across the ocean so getting them to some inland port at ultra high speed only to be put on some ponderous 18 wheeler may be unnecessary : it's volume that matters at this point. However, after processing in this inland port, getting goods to other hubs at high speed would certainly be beneficial. I hope this gets built, or something similar. The tube systems of the 1800s for transporting mail around London and New York worked well - even transported some drunken Victorian yahoos in these 3ft diameter pods - but they didn't benefit from modern-day materials and that will surely be a game changer as speeds increase.
los_kiosk
I fail to understand how it can be described as 'zero emissions'. Surely there would need to be a power station somewhere to supply the electricity to power the system?
and what about the security aspect? suppose some nuthead decided to blow up one of the tubes? - it could be a horrible disaster.
And the demo video shows a network across Europe, so would each capsule need to stop at the border for customs checks ?
Worzel
@los_kiosk There are no customs checks across Europe, for member countries. Until the 'covid' they were all unoccupied. Now, however, covid is changing that, to more controls again.
michael_dowling
For freight,we could go back to proven underground delivery systems. It is not sexy (constantly moving slow belts),but it is fast enough. Homes could be connected for receiving online orders overnight,and you could pick up your parcel in your basement in the morning: https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/02/a-world-without.html
martinwinlow
I don't really understand the need for 'trans-sonic' speeds when containers currently take weeks to months to go from A to B and the system generally works perfectly satisfactorily (emissions aside)... Surely just sticking them on a relatively conventional high-speed electric railway would be 1/10th the cost? And before you ask there really is no technical reason (moronic despots, aside) why such a railway(s) could not bring containers from China into Europe (of course, they already do - or did - https://www.railfreight.com/beltandroad/2022/07/05/new-silk-road-growth-almost-reaches-rock-bottom/)

Even boring a rail tunnel under the Barents Sea isn't a completely potty idea, permitting the same solution for east-bound Chinese containers...