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Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

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Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#31

Post by dragontamer »

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.

> The more countries trade with eachother, the less reason they have to fight wars with eachother.

WW1 pretty much proved that wrong.

Europe was trading a lot with each other. That didn't stop all the rivalries from starting up and causing the general "Great Game" feeling between powers.

For now, it seems like DEMOCRACY is the best thing to prevent wars. Democracies don't like fighting against other democracies: it seems like in most cases, convincing the other country through communication yields actual results.

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#34

Post by SirSourdough »

learningwebdev wrote: post #17
katbyte wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insurance

So insurance companies are losing money and raising premiums accordingly? Perhaps nobody is losing enough money to really care about the problem. The graph in the linked article suggests that 11 out of the last 13 years, losses have amounted to around $80 million or less. A lot of money, but perhaps not a lot of money to the shipping industry and/or their insurers?

Considering there are individual ships that carry more than a billion dollars worth of cargo and way more containers in a single trip than are lost in total in a year, I think you are probably correct.

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#35

Post by lmilcin »

> More than 3,000 boxes dropped into the sea last year, and more than 1,000 have fallen overboard so far in 2021.

Umm... we have end of April (the article is dated April 29th) or 1/3rd of the year. The last time I checked a third of 3000 is around 1000.

Anyway, nowhere in the article I see any numbers to support that there is a "sudden rise in accidents". Even the graphs themselves seem to show entirely different picture -- that this might just be a fluke.

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#36

Post by bellyfullofbac »

guynamedloren wrote: post #5

No mention of recovery. I wonder.. are the containers ever recovered, or is it prohibitively expensive, or, logistically near impossible?

I wonder if someone can make a living recovering these containers and selling their contents on eBay (considering it seems everyone treats the fallen off container as litter..).

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#37

Post by agumonkey »

learningwebdev wrote: post #17
katbyte wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insurance

So insurance companies are losing money and raising premiums accordingly? Perhaps nobody is losing enough money to really care about the problem. The graph in the linked article suggests that 11 out of the last 13 years, losses have amounted to around $80 million or less. A lot of money, but perhaps not a lot of money to the shipping industry and/or their insurers?

Yes it's priced and amortized all over the system.

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#38

Post by throwaway4594 »

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…

The summary of her dissertation is really interesting, thanks for sharing! But I think OP's point was "countries who trade with each other are less likely to go to war", not "countries who trade with each other never go to war". And I think OP is right.

"So war does not necessarily stop trade. And thus trade is no prophylactic to war." Seatbelts do not stop people dying in car accidents. But seatbelts do reduce the chances of dying in a car accident. I know I'm being pedantic, but it doesn't have to be all-or-nothing. Even a prophylactic that works 1% of the time is better than nothing.

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#39

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#40

Post by bpodgursky »

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.

Well, alternatively, the war was (in large part) triggered by Britain _restricting_ open trade via the stamp act / granting a monopoly on tea imports to a single company.
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