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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

#71

Post by pengaru »

elihu wrote: post #50
bellyfullofbac wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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..).

From the article, it seems that container losses don't generally happen one at a time, but rather you have some event where a ship loses hundreds at once. I guess if you're quick maybe you could get a ship in and scoop them up before they sink, but in order to save more than a few you'd need a big ship and most of the time you'd just be sitting around waiting for the next container loss event, and the ship would sit…

Just because there's an entire container ship worth of containers floating in the ocean doesn't mean you have to retrieve all of them...

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#72

Post by fuzxi »

pengaru wrote: post #71
elihu wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article, it seems that container losses don't generally happen one at a time, but rather you have some event where a ship loses hundreds at once. I guess if you're quick maybe you could get a ship in and scoop them up before they sink, but in order to save more than a few you'd need a big ship and most of the time you'd just be sitting around waiting for the next container loss event, and the ship would sit…

Just because there's an entire container ship worth of containers floating in the ocean doesn't mean you have to retrieve all of them...

His point is that container losses happen in bursts, so you'd spend a lot of time idle while waiting for a container loss. If you can't pick up enough of those containers, you'd be losing money to keep your ship ready-to-go.

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#73

Post by CalChris »

... to captains not deviating from a storm to save on fuel and time as they face pressure from charterers ...

Rather than shifting this cost to the shippers, they are essentially shifting it to the insurers and then paying more in premiums as a result.

Slow Steaming is going to cause some of this because ships will be en route longer and therefore more at risk of weather delay. Maybe they should apply the principle of General Average and simply charge for weather delays, shift this cost to the shippers.

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#75

Post by cbozeman »

cabernal wrote: post #74

It'll be interesting when these container are found thousands of years into the future, assuming humans (or transhumans) still being around.

I would love for a shipment of dildos to be found, along with a shipment of books with at least one titled Teledildonics Programming in Python for the Professional Programmer, 3rd Edition: Updated with a new chapter on TCP/IP latency reduction.

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#76

Post by samstave »

rurounijones wrote: post #16
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 that changed Britain" is a good BBC documentary on the subject as well if you can find it online.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIEH0Db0XVc

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#77

Post by felipemnoa »

Sebb767 wrote: post #58
JKCalhoun wrote: post #33

> More than 3,000 boxes dropped into the sea last year, and more than 1,000 have fallen overboard so far in 2021. A fascinating record we leave the next explorers.

If they can find them. We've lost whole planes in the ocean ; finding something as small as a shipping container will require a big stroke of luck.

>>stroke of luck

I'm sure that that's how we've found lots of really old stuff and continue to do so. Just imagine all the stuff that we haven't found yet.

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#78

Post by jcims »

ineedasername wrote: post #45
donw wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've taken an interest in learning more about both the history of logistics, as well as modern practices. Any more links (books or otherwise) you could share?

There's been a fair bit written about how Walmart leveraged incredible logistics to achieve its retail dominance, not unlike Amazon doing the same in the online world. I've also come across interesting work on how Dell helped change consumer computing with Just in Time supply chains.

Anybody that worked at Walmart in the 80’s and 90’s saw unprecedented application of technology to retail operations. Even as a lowly stock boy i could see how the efficiencies and cost savings gave them a huge advantage over their competition.

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#79

Post by katbyte »

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?

It amounts to a rounding error when you look at yearly cost of shilling. Remember the Suez Canal when blocked was costing 400 million a day.

Re: Shipping containers are falling overboard at a rapid rate

#80

Post by robbrown451 »

egocentric wrote: post #55
wongarsu wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3000 containers/year is a pretty small drop in the ocean. Most dangerous chemicals that you don't want in the ocean are loaded in a way that they are surrounded by other containers, so they are less likely to fall off (and less likely to be shot by pirates and catch fire). It seems reasonable to assume that the vast majority of the sinking containers are filled with pretty harmless stuff

> drop in the ocean cough

My analysis of that analogy is that "ocean," being on both sides of the equation, simply cancels out, so basically it is saying that a 3000 shipping containers equals one drop. Which I'm not buying. :)
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