This is not a victory. In the area where I live containers constantly fall into the ocean because shipping companies stack them too high.
The only thing this achieves is even more garbage in the ocean.
An unexpected victory: container stacking at the port of Los Angeles
251–260 of 316 posts
Re: An unexpected victory: container stacking at the port of Los Angeles
#252All the dismissals here are fascinating to me — and sure seem to be exactly the overarching story of TFA. Yes, this certainly isn't the only problem here, but it's certainly the easiest to fix. And yes, the narrative of the story is definitely important, because it avoided all the rabble you see here that was getting in the way of a simple first step.
The problem isn't fixed. If the actual problem isn't fixed soon, the extra capacity will be used in some finite and probably short time.
Re: An unexpected victory: container stacking at the port of Los Angeles
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
We can get pretty far with passive solutions like internal and external insulation and painting the outside white. Burying them halfway into the ground would also give great benefits (albeit the trickier of the options) Perhaps we can even cover the roof with sod where available. May only need a minimal power active A/C.
They don't have the strength to be buried. All of the strength is vertical in the corners for stacking. Once you cut into them for windows or more doors, you greatly reduce any strength. By the time you get done modifying it, it will cost more than traditional building materials. (i like this dream, but it just isn't practical)
Another unmentioned problem is that the plywood floors are saturated with carcinogenic insecticides- and not a small amount. Source: I sealed floors for a container reuse project.
Re: An unexpected victory: container stacking at the port of Los Angeles
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did you read the tweets? He implies that it is a given that negative feedback is a problem, not a solution to problems.
It seems like maybe he confused positive and negative feedback? But if you think he's created a situation where positive feedback is going to cause massive problems down the line, I was interested in knowing specifically what you had in mind.
Yes, he is confused. He has created a situation where people he influences will have a negative attitude toward solutions described as introducing negative feedback.
Somebody who cannot understand what "negative feedback" means should not inspire confidence in his analysis of a mature queuing problem.
Re: An unexpected victory: container stacking at the port of Los Angeles
#255Two points: First, negative feedback is good . The problem here was a case of positive feedback, which are always bad . This Ryan person might be helping in the one crisis, but he has just installed a thousand new timebombs. Second, the reason NYT has nothing about this is that NYT editors tell its reporters to find stories that seem to illustrate what the editors want said. NYT is not really interested in what is ac…
If you're suggesting the NYTimes acts differently than other newspapers of record (i.e. decent sources of news) I would be interested in more details.
I don't have authoritative information about how other newspapers work. (By the evidence, most just transcribe press releases and wire stories.) But I read an account by a longtime NYT reporter describing how the NYT news office works.
Re: An unexpected victory: container stacking at the port of Los Angeles
#256> A bureaucrat insisting that stacked containers are an eyesore, causing freight to pile up because trucks are stuck sitting on empty containers, thus causing a cascading failure that destroys supply lines and brings down the economy. That certainly sounds like something that was in an early draft of Atlas Shrugged but got crossed out as too preposterous for anyone to take seriously. This is a little disingenuous. Fr…
Hyperbole aside, you can only stack as high as your crane can lift it which is also finite.
Re: An unexpected victory: container stacking at the port of Los Angeles
#257This article is ridiculous. "It's so easy but nobody expected it to happen!" Most of freight is run off spreadsheets and over the phone or by email. Flexport is built around digitization and optimization. Half of the appeal of their product is that it gives customers improved visibility! It's therefore not surprising that a local city mayor didn't realize he had the power to unclog the US traffic jam. Referring to hi…
That is the definition of the word bureaucrat, which was absolutely used in a fair manner to describe the person who caused this issue. Reason 4 of the cause is what you should rail against: "This rule was created, and I am not making this up, because it was decided that higher stacks were not sufficiently aesthetically pleasing."
And, what do you imagine are the odds that the person charged with enforcing the rule also made the rule?
Re: An unexpected victory: container stacking at the port of Los Angeles
#258Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that the 'stacking rule' meant that people with more empties than they could stack 2 high on their property were "storing" empties on trailer chassis that carry one container. As I understood it, by letting them stack empties higher, it freed up trailers to be used by trucks to go get containers out of the port. When that happens the port then wants empties to…
You're correct. The article was imprecise with its terminology. Most people who aren't familiar with trucking understand a tractor-trailer as a single vehicle, because that's what they usually see on the road. When in reality it's exactly what the phrase describes: a tractor (or cab, or engine and steering and driver) + a trailer (or chassis + whatever it's hauling). The entire idea of modern over-the-road trucking i…
>Most people who aren't familiar with trucking understand a tractor-trailer as a single vehicle, because that's what they usually see on the road.
Heh, I was noticing myself that it was kind of hard to follow because the domain ontology (what entities exist and how they relate) wasn't make explicit (like I just did with the previous parenthetical). Would have helped to know that a chassis and container-free trailer are the same thing.
And so I kind of balked when the author said the Flexport CEO:
>>Describes a clear physical problem that everyone can understand, in simple terms that everyone can understand but that don’t talk down to anyone.
Re: An unexpected victory: container stacking at the port of Los Angeles
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
Correct! If we simply let the person die of cancer, we can properly investigate the tumor when they are dead.
I should have given more context. In cases where incentives are deeply, structurally misaligned, and it will take heroic effort and significant luck to yield an order of magnitude improvement over the status quo, we should consider "letting it burn" as an option, and recognize the total cost of treating the symptoms. The global logistics quagmire may be a candidate for nuclear-ish options. Agree with you on the cance…
The problem is that often the consequences of letting it burn are most felt by innocent bystanders, rather than the people who are meant to be "taught a lesson".
Re: An unexpected victory: container stacking at the port of Los Angeles
#260Apropos the importance of building new container shipping ports in places that don’t have land scarcity, traffic, and well organized NIMBYs? Let me introduce you to the port of Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia. The port of Prince Rupert has 5 (as in “can be counted on one hand”) berths and transfers 1.2M containers per year. The port of Long Beach has 80 (yes, eight-zero!!!) berths and only transfers 8.1M c…
Prince Rupert is also physically closer to Asia (saves 2-3 days of sailing time), and has very little other sea traffic. The rail line is also expanding, and has very little non-port traffic. The port itself is protected by geography, and is one of the deepest natural harbours in the world. It's a neat place! Well, except for being one of the rainiest cities in Canada. Edit: If you're interested in this kind of thing…
To me, you're raising the question of: why are ports in locations like Long Beach and LA (and SF/Oakland)? They seem like terrible locations for ports. There's a lot of coastline on the western US. Why pick places where land is astronomically expensive, and transportation options aren't great?
One reason I can think of is availability of labor, but how many people does it take to run a good-sized port? Not saying we build a new port out in the middle of nowhere, but a location where there is already a small- to mid-sized town nearby might be suitable. And also consider that the existing port locations have housing costs that are probably too high for many/most port workers anyway.
It seems like we need more ports in the US in places similar to Prince Rupert.