Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

Post by donw » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 10:54 PM UTC

shoo wrote: post #10

To anchor discussion, prior to the rise of intermodal shipping containers in the '60s & '70s, cargo was shipped as breakbulk cargo. Losses from theft and damage were considerably reduced by switching from breakbulk cargo to shipping containers. Not the same as losing stuff over the side, but still a regular and somewhat predictable expense. One anecdote I remember from Levinson's book is about a scottish whisky disti…

Post by throwaway316943 » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 11:00 PM UTC

superfamicom wrote: post #13

Is there a list of what exactly was lost? Does anyone actively seek out and salvage this sunken treasure? I hate to think of another Garfield Phone thing in the future with something more dangerous. https://time.com/5561165/garfield-phones-france/

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 11:03 PM UTC

dmitrygr wrote: post #14

xiphias2 wrote: post #11

I see ships being overloaded a good problem to have. The more countries trade with eachother, the less reason they have to fight wars with eachother.

My sister wrote & defended her PhD thesis disproving this intuitive but wrong connection. Plenty of states happily trade with their enemies during wars. So war does not necessarily stop trade. And thus trade is no prophylactic to war. States are most likely to cut off trade during war in very long wars - which are no longer possible between nuclear powers. http://mariya.gr/research.htm If you have counter-arguments o…

Post by lostlogin » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 11:07 PM UTC

chrisco255 wrote: post #15

xiphias2 wrote: post #11

I see ships being overloaded a good problem to have. The more countries trade with eachother, the less reason they have to fight wars with eachother.

Really? The U.S. was founded on a war with its primary trading partner.

Post by kasey_junk » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 11:14 PM UTC

pchristensen wrote: post #20

shoo wrote: post #10

To anchor discussion, prior to the rise of intermodal shipping containers in the '60s & '70s, cargo was shipped as breakbulk cargo. Losses from theft and damage were considerably reduced by switching from breakbulk cargo to shipping containers. Not the same as losing stuff over the side, but still a regular and somewhat predictable expense. One anecdote I remember from Levinson's book is about a scottish whisky disti…

The Box is way more fascinating than it has any right to be. It touches on basically every aspect of post-1950 world economy, history, urban planning, social changes, migration, etc.