【聯合報╱By BILLY WITZ╱陳世欽譯】
Shipping Revolution,By Way of an Airship
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MONTEBELLO, California — Igor Pasternak believes he is on the verge of changing the world of large cargo with a 235-meter -long, helium-filled airship that would be capable of delivering fresh fruit to Alaska, dropping triage units at disaster sites or depositing heavy machinery into remote locations.
No ports, rail lines, roads or airstrips would be necessary.
帕斯特納克認為，他即將以一艘全長235公尺的飛船改變大型貨物運輸的世界。這種充填氦氣的飛船能將新鮮水果送到阿拉斯加，把醫護團隊投送到災難現場，或者將重機械投放在偏遠地區。
不需要港口、鐵路、公路或機場。
Mr. Pasternak, 50, a Ukrainian engineer who started his own company, Aeros Corporation, in the midst of perestroika, moved to the United States when the post-Soviet economy collapsed. He says his Aeroscraft airship would fly at up to 120 knots, four times as fast as a cargo ship. Its capacity of 225 metric tons is about twice that of a C-5 cargo plane, and it has a range of about 9,450 kilometers , enough to go from Boston to Burkina Faso.
The Aeroscraft will take off and land like a helicopter. Its designers, Mr. Pasternak sa id, have solved the major problem for lighter-than-air crafts: buoyancy control. If a dirigible unloads heavy cargo, it must be tethered or take on the same weight to keep from floating away. The Aeroscraft sends helium from its main chamber into compression tanks, which creates room for air — which is heavier — to be taken in, allowing for a controlled descent.
50歲的帕斯特納克是祖籍烏克蘭的工程師，在前蘇聯的改革期間創辦他的「空中公司」，並在後蘇聯經濟崩潰時移民美國。他說，他的空中飛船最高速度可達120節，是一般貨輪的4倍。最大載重量達225公噸，約是C-5運輸機的2倍，最大航程大約9450公里，可以一口氣從波士頓飛到布吉納法索。
空中飛船可像直升機那樣的降落、起飛。帕斯特納克說，它的設計團隊已經解決比空氣輕的空中運輸工具所面臨的一個主要問題：浮力控制。如果一艘飛船要卸下重貨，它必須繫在地上或負載相同的重量，以免飄走。空中飛船將主艙室的氦氣送到壓縮槽，使重量比較大的空氣得以進入，飛船也才得以進行操控降落。
In October, several congressmen were present for the christening of a more modest, conventional airship from Mr. Pasternak’s company, a blimp sold to a Mexican company that plans to use it to monitor oil pipelines.
“When the Internet was created, it was to solve the problem of: In a nuclear war, how is the world going to communicate?” Mr. Pasternak said. “No one was thinking about the vision of Google and Facebook and Alibaba. We will change the distribution system same way with this project.”
今年10月，數名美國國會議員應邀出席帕斯特納克公司另一艘較小型傳統飛船的命名典禮。一家墨西哥公司買下這艘飛船，用於監控輸油管線。
帕斯特納克說：「網際網路問世時，要解決的是發生核子戰爭時世人如何連繫的問題。當時沒有人想得到谷歌、臉書與阿里巴巴的出現。我們將靠這項計畫以同樣方式改變配送系統。」
But Chris Caplice, executive director for Massachusetts Institute of Technology ’s Center for Transportation and Logistics, is skeptical . He sees the Aeroscraft as only marginally more efficient than existing vessels.
“It has its uses, but they’re narrow,” Dr. Caplice said.
然而麻省理工學院運輸與物流中心執行長卡普里斯對此存疑。他認為，空中飛船的效率只比現有的機船好一點點。
卡普里斯說：「它有它的用途，但很有限。」
Dirigibles have long dealt with a stigma — nobody wants to get on the next Hindenburg. The sell is easier among scientists, who understand that these ships run on nonflammable helium, unlike the Hindenburg, which immolated when its hydrogen tanks exploded while docking in Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937.
Airships have found their most reliable use not in carrying people or cargo, but as slow-moving billboards in the sky . Interest was also keen from the military, but that has cooled in the face of cutbacks.
長久以來，飛船始終無法洗脫一項汙名：沒有人願意搭乘下一艘興登堡號飛船。科學家比較可能接受。他們知道，這些飛船採用不會燃燒的氦氣，與興登堡號不同。興登堡號1937年在新澤西州雷克赫斯特準備靠泊時，因為氫氣槽爆炸而陷入火海。
飛船最可靠的用途不是載人送貨，而是充當緩慢移動的空中廣告看板。軍方對它也很有興趣，卻因預算縮水以致熱情降溫。
Though much of the Aeroscraft’s development cost has been covered by government military contracts, Mr. Pasternak has begun to turn more toward the private sector. He sa id he is convinced there is value in being able to deliver wind turbines to remote areas, something no air vessel can do. Or in getting overseas goods produced in November to American markets for the holiday season, something no cargo ship can move quickly enough to do.
雖然空中飛船的研發成本很大部分由政府的軍事合約涵蓋，帕斯特納克卻已開始轉向民間領域。他說，他確信能將風力渦輪送到偏遠地區必有價值，其他空中運輸工具辦不到。或者將11月製造的海外商品送到美國市場，以配合假期季節。這方面貨輪的速度不夠快。
But Richard Aboulafia, a cargo industry analyst, said the market for an airship like the Aeroscraft “is a problematic one.”
Mr. Aboulafia said there were three hurdles to overcome: the difficulty in making a new market entrance in air transportation, Cold War-era Russian planes that can be leased inexpensively and the fact that exotic cargo is often a one-way trip, which raises costs.
A fleet of smaller Aeroscraft models, 170 meters with a 60-metric -ton capacity, should be ready in three years, he said, with the 225-metric -ton capacity ship coming the year after that.
然而貨運業分析師艾伯拉菲亞表示，空中飛船的市場「有問題」。
他指出，3項障礙必須克服：創造空中運輸市場新入口不易、冷戰時期俄國飛機可以便宜租用，以及外國貨通常單程運送，導致成本增加。
他說，一批長170公尺，可承載60公噸貨物的較小型空中飛船應可在3年後準備就緒，載重量225公噸的飛船則在翌年。
Aeroscraft has signed partnership agreements with companies including Bertling Logistics, Air Charter Service and Pacific Airlift, though the terms are unclear.
As for financing? “Hah,” he said with a dismissive nod of his head, adding, “The best financing is customer financing. It keeps you honest. There is a difference between a financial investor and a customer because a financial investor is looking for a return on his investment and a customer is looking for performance. When you go with this approach, it gives you more freedom.”
空中飛船已與一些公司簽署夥伴協議，包括柏特林後勤、空中包租服務、太平洋空運，不過內容未公布。
融資問題如何解決？他略帶不屑的點頭說道：「哈。最好的融資是顧客融資。它會使你保持誠實。財務投資者與顧客之間有一項差異，因為財務投資者追求的是投資回報，顧客則注重表現。這麼做會有較大的自由。」
Photos of blimps and dirigibles in magazines fascinated Mr. Pasternak when he was a child in the Soviet Union. By the time he was 10, Mr. Pasternak was consumed with the idea of building an airship .
“It stuck,” Mr. Pasternak said . “Because I don’t have enough imagination , I just stuck with this and became a boring person. I’ve become the horse with blinders.”
帕斯特納克還是住在蘇聯的一個小孩時，就已經對小型飛船與飛船的照片著迷。10歲時，他完全沉浸在建造一艘飛船的夢想中。
帕斯特納克說：「就這麼黏住了。由於想像力不夠，我只知緊抱著這個夢想，變為乏味的人。我成了蒙上眼罩的馬。」
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