351–360 of 462 posts
One thing I learned from reading about this is that Rotterdam is the destination of a large amount of China to Europe trade. Is there really not a suitably developed Mediterranean port closer to Suez? Is there work on one?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal
I wonder what makes something significant enough to be added to this section. A quick scan of the page shows some interesting tidbits that aren't present in the opening (to me, more noteworthy - so far - than the ongoing blockage):
> The canal had an immediate and dramatic effect on world trade. Combined with the American transcontinental railroad completed six months earlier, it allowed the world to be circled in record time.
> In 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, the canal was the scene of a major crossing by the Egyptian army into Israeli-occupied Sinai and a counter-crossing by the Israeli army to Egypt. Much wreckage from this conflict remains visible along the canal's edges.
This incident has already been added to opening section for the Suez Canal Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal I wonder what makes something significant enough to be added to this section. A quick scan of the page shows some interesting tidbits that aren't present in the opening (to me, more noteworthy - so far - than the ongoing blockage): > The canal had an immediate and dramatic effect on worl…
Right now it's more a matter of racing to be as up-to-date as possible, rather than actually weighing the merits of having this in the opening section.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I haven't read the book, but I have traveled on a container ship through the Suez Canal. It's not really what I would call exciting, but it is fairly interesting. It takes less than a day to transit, and the scenery is relatively varied - you get to see urban areas, some rural farmland, beaches, and full out desert. Both in front and behind are dozens of massive container ships, just as big as the one you're on. It's…
How does one end up traveling on a container ship? Is that something you can pay to do?
The cost was about $100 / day, but this was almost 10 years ago, so I guess it went up by now. This isn't really competitive as travel, but if you consider the experience of being on a container ship a holiday in itself, the cost was quite reasonable IMO.
There was one other passenger on board, and we could go anywhere on the ship without an escort except the engine room. I really enjoyed it, but its not for everyone as there is no communication / internet access available so you have to be the sort of person who can entertain yourself.
Also wouldn't go if you get seasick easily. Unlike say cruise ships, the crew isn't too worried about passenger comfort, and wil just plow straight through storms.
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Fleet : some ships were stuck for eight years after the 1967 war closed the canal at both ends with sunk ships.
> In October 1967, the officers and crews of all fourteen ships met on the Melampus to found the "Great Bitter Lake Association" which provided mutual support. Crew members continued to regularly meet on board their ships, organized social events, founded a yachting club and held the "Bitter Lake Olympic Games" to complement the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Life boat races were arranged and soccer games were…
That is pretty cool.
I remember back in the early 90s attending a CEBIT trade show (at the time perhaps the largest computing show in the world -- the show floors covered acres) and being astonished to see that the Bundespost delivered mail, including the usual trade show flyers, to each display booth. Yes, uniformed postal workers wheeling the usual delivery carts up and down the aisles.
I think we forget how important transporting physical media (usually just paper) was back in those days. The penny post used to deliver twice a day in cities. Now I check my mail every 4-6 weeks and there's rarely anything important in it.
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As is the environmental harm
Super-ships emit ~5g_Co2/Ton/km on average[1], while railway is 2-35g, air transport is 700-3000g and truck transport is 100-2000g. Surprisingly, the bigger the boat the more effective. We tend to have a bias against larger machines, but often they can be the cleanest in proportion. [1] https://www.ademe.fr/sites/default/files/assets/documents/86...
https://cs.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_(raketa)
And it makes sense if you think about it - as you scale up, the ammount of fuel you can carry goes up roghly by cube while structure mass, forming a shell effectively arround the fuel, goes up by square of size of the rocket.
Similar things for air resistance - as you scale up yuour rocket the front part creating the most drag will scale more slowly than the volume of the rocket that goes to fuel, payload and structure.
No wonder Starship is already at 9 meters of width and 18 m has been mentioned as a possible future upgrade. Its already bigger than the massive 66+ meter high medieval watchtower in my home town yet it can fly to sub orbital speeds without its first stage booster (which is even bigger)!
Damn, imagine having to go around South America as a detour.
Unless I’m very much mistaken, the Suez is in Egypt, so the detour would be around Africa.
I wonder if, if you're a container ship leaving China today, headed for Europe, if it makes sense to head for Panama instead, purely on the metric of time, or if you're still better off either rounding Africa or just waiting for the Suez to clear.
(I assume from a fuel/logistics point it is cheapest just to wait.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Considering the threat from Nigeria pirates, they probably will just wait until everything resolves.
? This is the first time I hear about Nigerian pirates. The problem several years ago were Somalian pirates, which incidentally are next to the Suez route.
Partially refloated! [1] Apparently they're going to move it aside so traffic can start to get through. [1] https://twitter.com/GlobalHogg/status/1374709733614100487