Shipping Containers Backed Up - Page 3

kivah · ‎03-11-2010

@gardenman wrote:
The way shipping containers are loaded and unloaded now is a bit slow and clunky. The containers are a uniform size (well sizes) and the whole loading and unloading process could be fully automated because of that. It would take ship redesign, container redesign, and port redesign, but it's doable. A large shipping container ship will have 5,000 or more containers on it. They're typically lifted off one by one. That takes time. Lots of time.

Redesigning the port so the ships enter a lock and are settled onto a flat bottom or other support for stability, then interconnected containers are simply rolled off onto conveyor belts like paper towels are pulled from a roll and you could empty a full-sized ship in a few hours. Then have the outgoing containers ready to go and have them slid aboard the ship and then flood the lock and off the ship goes. It's a very doable option. You could take the turnaround time from days to hours.

It would take a big upfront investment and you'd be fighting the port workers' unions who don't want ship loading and unloading automated, but it could change the way shipping is done on a very large scale in a very short period of time. Ships don't make money in ports. They make money when they're moving. The more they move the more money they make. Time spent loading and unloading is money lost. Speed up those processes and you make more money.

Hundreds of ships are sitting in the Pacific Ocean - tens of thousands of containers not being unloaded in several Los Angeles Ports. They claim there's no one to unload the containers --- not true!!!! Goal is to increase the prices of all our goods/products - and pay higher taxes - and make Americans poorer.

gidgetgh · ‎03-09-2010

@kivah wrote:
@gardenman wrote:
The way shipping containers are loaded and unloaded now is a bit slow and clunky. The containers are a uniform size (well sizes) and the whole loading and unloading process could be fully automated because of that. It would take ship redesign, container redesign, and port redesign, but it's doable. A large shipping container ship will have 5,000 or more containers on it. They're typically lifted off one by one. That takes time. Lots of time.

Redesigning the port so the ships enter a lock and are settled onto a flat bottom or other support for stability, then interconnected containers are simply rolled off onto conveyor belts like paper towels are pulled from a roll and you could empty a full-sized ship in a few hours. Then have the outgoing containers ready to go and have them slid aboard the ship and then flood the lock and off the ship goes. It's a very doable option. You could take the turnaround time from days to hours.

It would take a big upfront investment and you'd be fighting the port workers' unions who don't want ship loading and unloading automated, but it could change the way shipping is done on a very large scale in a very short period of time. Ships don't make money in ports. They make money when they're moving. The more they move the more money they make. Time spent loading and unloading is money lost. Speed up those processes and you make more money.
Hundreds of ships are sitting in the Pacific Ocean - tens of thousands of containers not being unloaded in several Los Angeles Ports. They claim there's no one to unload the containers --- not true!!!! Goal is to increase the prices of all our goods/products - and pay higher taxes - and make Americans poorer.

@kivah - who is "they"?

Why is it, when I have a 50/50 guess at something, I'm always 100% wrong?

chickenbone · ‎02-16-2014

It's by design to put the Mom & Pops out of business. Think about it.

golding76 · ‎05-19-2012

(I found this online because someone in the wholesale business said something to me about this change.)

"The average price world-wide to ship a 40-foot container has more than quadrupled from a year ago, to $8,399 as of July 1, according to a global pricing index by London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd. The measure has surged 53.5% since the first week of May. Jul 5, 2021."

(The price of goods will certainly continue to increase. I'm shaking my head in disbelief and horror.)

suzyQ3 · ‎03-09-2010

@gidgetgh wrote:
@kivah wrote:
@gardenman wrote:
The way shipping containers are loaded and unloaded now is a bit slow and clunky. The containers are a uniform size (well sizes) and the whole loading and unloading process could be fully automated because of that. It would take ship redesign, container redesign, and port redesign, but it's doable. A large shipping container ship will have 5,000 or more containers on it. They're typically lifted off one by one. That takes time. Lots of time.

Redesigning the port so the ships enter a lock and are settled onto a flat bottom or other support for stability, then interconnected containers are simply rolled off onto conveyor belts like paper towels are pulled from a roll and you could empty a full-sized ship in a few hours. Then have the outgoing containers ready to go and have them slid aboard the ship and then flood the lock and off the ship goes. It's a very doable option. You could take the turnaround time from days to hours.

It would take a big upfront investment and you'd be fighting the port workers' unions who don't want ship loading and unloading automated, but it could change the way shipping is done on a very large scale in a very short period of time. Ships don't make money in ports. They make money when they're moving. The more they move the more money they make. Time spent loading and unloading is money lost. Speed up those processes and you make more money.
Hundreds of ships are sitting in the Pacific Ocean - tens of thousands of containers not being unloaded in several Los Angeles Ports. They claim there's no one to unload the containers --- not true!!!! Goal is to increase the prices of all our goods/products - and pay higher taxes - and make Americans poorer.

@kivah - who is "they"?

@gidgetgh, "they" is the ubiquitous and changing group that is the target of of all conspirators.

~Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Porcelain · ‎02-19-2014

Time to buy local. As much as possible.

I still have at least 6 months of TP in my closet from my last Amazon Professional purchase. I may do the same with PT so I don't have to think about it.

When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.
"Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

DiAnne · ‎09-22-2010

I was at Costco a couple of days ago and they were fully stocked except no tp and oddly enough no empty space for it. All aisles were stocked to the ceiling like always.

DiAnne · ‎09-22-2010

@kivah wrote:
@gardenman wrote:
The way shipping containers are loaded and unloaded now is a bit slow and clunky. The containers are a uniform size (well sizes) and the whole loading and unloading process could be fully automated because of that. It would take ship redesign, container redesign, and port redesign, but it's doable. A large shipping container ship will have 5,000 or more containers on it. They're typically lifted off one by one. That takes time. Lots of time.

Redesigning the port so the ships enter a lock and are settled onto a flat bottom or other support for stability, then interconnected containers are simply rolled off onto conveyor belts like paper towels are pulled from a roll and you could empty a full-sized ship in a few hours. Then have the outgoing containers ready to go and have them slid aboard the ship and then flood the lock and off the ship goes. It's a very doable option. You could take the turnaround time from days to hours.

It would take a big upfront investment and you'd be fighting the port workers' unions who don't want ship loading and unloading automated, but it could change the way shipping is done on a very large scale in a very short period of time. Ships don't make money in ports. They make money when they're moving. The more they move the more money they make. Time spent loading and unloading is money lost. Speed up those processes and you make more money.
Hundreds of ships are sitting in the Pacific Ocean - tens of thousands of containers not being unloaded in several Los Angeles Ports. They claim there's no one to unload the containers --- not true!!!! Goal is to increase the prices of all our goods/products - and pay higher taxes - and make Americans poorer.

There is a shortage of truck drivers that is causing the traffic jams at the port. They say many retired during the pandemic and younger people are not interested in this work. Self driving trucks are almost perfected so that problem will be solved soon.

icezeus · ‎10-30-2010

@DiAnne wrote:
I was at Costco a couple of days ago and they were fully stocked except no tp and oddly enough no empty space for it. All aisles were stocked to the ceiling like always.

@DiAnne

I ordered some groceries online Wednesday night from Walmart, to be picked up Saturday morning. I went to the store and had my items placed in my trunk but I had forgotten one thing and had to go into the store for milk. This is a Super Walmart, so it's a huge store. I walked straight back to the Dairy section, but all of the aisles that I passed looked fully stocked to me.