Well, first, the technical period in question is more to the order of 1910-1920; steam and, in setting, wind power are already well developed.
Second, these things aren't being used for the wasteful sort of individual direct shipping that we see in our own real world - a big reason to build them to ship scales is that they're making ship-scale trips of tens of thousands of miles without much or any resupply along the way, crossing deserts the size of oceans.
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"I'm terribly sorry, but I have to kill you quite horribly now."
Second, these things aren't being used for the wasteful sort of individual direct shipping that we see in our own real world - a big reason to build them to ship scales is that they're making ship-scale trips of tens of thousands of miles without much or any resupply along the way, crossing deserts the size of oceans.
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"I'm terribly sorry, but I have to kill you quite horribly now."