What about this idea of a business plan ? buy 5 of those ships very cheap, get rid of/deliver the goods, merge them in international waters nearby San Francisco, make a top notch/self sustaining mix of offices and Corp housing on top of them. Anybody could work there waiting for their H1B or just simply contracting or bootstrapping their companies.
Why billions of dollars of goods are stuck at sea
131–140 of 224 posts
Re: Why billions of dollars of goods are stuck at sea
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems the very definition of "business opportunity" to me.
Right? You can work out a fee with all of the recipients that covers maybe all of your cost. Plus, free boat!
These boats are anything but free. Just owning one automatically costs you considerably. They are a liability.
Re: Why billions of dollars of goods are stuck at sea
#133So these ships are just sitting there off shore? What stops pirates from taking over the ships? What about the crews just taking what they want and leaving?
> What stops [...] the crews just taking what they want and leaving?
The containers. Stopping the crew from stealing the cargo is and always has been one of their primary purposes.
Re: Why billions of dollars of goods are stuck at sea
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wouldn't it do more to encourage local food production and consumption? Thus reducing pollution while at the same time boosting farm economies in poorer countries which were previously flooded by lower-cost imports from richer highly efficient food-producing countries?
Local food production is a noble goal. Just sort of hoping that some industries will fail and force people to grow food locally, or starve, is not a very good strategy for achieving that goal. It's a delicate curve. Perhaps gradually increasing tariffs can support the actual increase of local production. Perhaps taxing oil consumption to subsidize poorer countries farmers is another way to go.
> Local food production is a noble goal.
As an end in itself? Why?
Re: Why billions of dollars of goods are stuck at sea
#135This is a mess because Hanjin's top management was in denial about the possibility of bankruptcy. Just like the typical startup. They've been trying for months to get a bailout deal from somebody, anybody - a merger, loans, their parent chaebol, their stockholders (Korean Air is the largest), or the S. Korean government. Everybody turned them down. There's too much container ship capacity right now; nobody needed Han…
What happens to the crews of these ships? Can they leave? How? Who pays to transport them to shore? Under what authority are they permitted to walk on shore? Office and factory workers of a suddenly-derelict company can walk off the premises and go home. Imagine finding out that not only will the paychecks stop, you also can't leave your desk.
There is the occasional ship stranded in Charleston SC and there are local church groups who will put together a food & supply boat to go out there for the crews. They can't leave the ship as they don't have visas. USCIS doesn't really want them to anyway, as there's no guarantee they'll return to the ship or their home country.
Re: Why billions of dollars of goods are stuck at sea
#136I shipped my stuff from Beijing to LA a month and a half ago, without seeing it on this side yet (takes 1-2 months). Hoping it is not stuck on one of these boats!
Re: Why billions of dollars of goods are stuck at sea
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
Local food production is a noble goal. Just sort of hoping that some industries will fail and force people to grow food locally, or starve, is not a very good strategy for achieving that goal. It's a delicate curve. Perhaps gradually increasing tariffs can support the actual increase of local production. Perhaps taxing oil consumption to subsidize poorer countries farmers is another way to go.
> Local food production is a noble goal. As an end in itself? Why?
Me personally? Buying local food supports the local economy, providing some support for a local food supply. It's a little bit crazy, i know, but if something weird happened, at least some food could be sourced locally. Most farmland around me tends to get paved. So supporting local farmers helps a bit with wildlife habitat and gives rain a place to soak back into the aquifer. I can talk with farmers about what they spray on their food. Finally getting stuff right when its in season tastes really good. Sweet corn from the farmers market or the side of the road is just unreal about 1 week of the year. I can never quite catch that in the grocery store.
Re: Why billions of dollars of goods are stuck at sea
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems the very definition of "business opportunity" to me.
Right? You can work out a fee with all of the recipients that covers maybe all of your cost. Plus, free boat!
Plus, free boat!
Nothing free about boats. Best two days of your life: the day you buy a boat, and the day you sell it.
Re: Why billions of dollars of goods are stuck at sea
#139This bankruptcy means that companies shipping goods are no longer going to be able to treat shipping as a fungible commodity and instead are going to have to price in a risk component as well. That suggests that the largest and best financed players are likely to be able to command a premium which will accelerate losses at smaller players. This would increase the spreads further and create a viscous loop. Does anybod…
We're talking about the industry(shipping) that insurance was invented for. No industry has more experience with calculating risk than the shipping industry. This will undoubtedly have some effect, but I doubt anyone on Hackernews can reliably predict it.
The folks from FlexPort probably have expertise in this area, and they're often on here.
Re: Why billions of dollars of goods are stuck at sea
#140What about this idea of a business plan ? buy 5 of those ships very cheap, get rid of/deliver the goods, merge them in international waters nearby San Francisco, make a top notch/self sustaining mix of offices and Corp housing on top of them. Anybody could work there waiting for their H1B or just simply contracting or bootstrapping their companies.
You mean something like Alcatraz prison?