On Wed, Oct 29, 2014 at 1:21 AM, Ian Whitchurch <ian.whitchurch@gmail.com> wrote:
You're mistaking a tourism business for a cargo business, I think.

On Wed, Oct 29, 2014 at 4:15 PM, Richard Aiken <raikenclw@gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, Oct 29, 2014 at 12:45 AM, Richard Aiken <raikenclw@gmail.com> wrote:
SOMEBODY - e.g. businesses or private individuals more concerned with reducing their carbon footprints than with getting their cargos to their destinations this week . . . or this month . . . - is paying enough to keep them going.


And paying darn well, apparently!

(I'm obviously reading through the site . . .)

They're currently *building* a clipper ship - the third vessel in their fleet - which will accommodate 12 crew and 36 trainees. 


Tourism is part of it, obviously.

But the website cites their passage ("trainee") rates as being "much lower than the industry standard." So they must be making up the difference elsewhere.

They also sell branded products (coffee, chocolate and something else that I can't remember).

But I could actually imagine free/far traders in the TU doing much the same, particularly if each backwater port only gets a few visits per year.

--
Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein
"A word to the wise ain't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice." - Bill Cosby
"We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous." Dean Winchester