85% of container ships that would’ve transited the Red Sea are now going around the southern tip of Africa as of this morning.
The ships diverting from their… | 42 comments on LinkedIn
Thus far we’ve not seen any impact on air freight prices as it’s the post holiday low season without all the e-commerce demand that drove the high air prices in Q4. A 747 cargo plane can only carry around 7 ocean containers worth of cargo though compared to 10,000+ for the mega container ships, so it won’t take a lot of companies deciding to shift cargo from ocean to air for the air cargo market to become capacity constrained.
What a wild difference between the cargo capacity of the two.
Yeah and the broader point is an important one; it won’t be too long before the impacts of this shift are very obvious in the marketplace. The US is under enormous pressure to get things back to normal, but the guy in charge is more pro-:isntrael: than Reagan, so I don’t see any way that can happen.
Also, can’t help but see the BRI guys feeling a little extra smug about their plane for overland transport through the Middle East.
I had actually forgotten that China’s belt and road initiative involved electrified freight train routes from China up through Russia or the middle east into Europe proper. Iirc there is also work to build routes from China deep into Africa to allow reliable trade of resources and goods without ocean going freight.
Years ago I was honestly surprised to learn that there wasn’t already a reliable freight train network connecting all of continental Asia, Africa, and Europe. That everyone was sending freight longer distances via ocean going freight traveling around continents rather than via rail in straight lines over land seemed so wasteful. Ocean going freight should only be necessary for oversized freight, island nations, or freight between the eastern and western global hemispheres.
Yeah. I remember something about everyone intentionally using incompatible rail gauges out of fear that other nations would use trains for military invasions. It’s only been in recent decades where we have started to see a globally adopted standard rail gauge for freight networks.
They’re joined at the hip. The Israelis control a number of ports that load and unload cargo off the Suez. And some of the more notable Zionists are international shipping magnets.
Israel exists, in no small part, as a dagger to the neck of the Egyptian government, to prevent another Nasser from taking office. It is a means by which western states exert diplomatic, economic, and military control over the canal.
But the Yemenese aren’t threatening the Sinai Peninsula. They’re guarding the gates to the Red Sea all the way down by Djiabouti. That’s something Saudi Arabia was supposed to manage, and they’ve pooched it. So now the Americans are being forced to take a direct hand in a conflict that they’d invested trillions of dollars expecting proxies to handle.
Cargo ships already run very slowly in order to save fuel. In a storm where the winds are so strong that the ship risks capsizing, the sails can simply be retracted. Also, if the time spent not moving when there is no wind is a concern, sails can be combined with diesel (or even nuclear) propulsion in a hybrid setup.
eeeh, yeah but if you want to effectively use sails, you need to take specific routes with good reliable wind. modern cargo ships can go in a straighter line.
so it’s not as easy as that, but yeah, they should bring back sailships even if that makes the transit times longer
I know the standards of construction between civilian and military shipping are pretty different, but we have had nuclear powered ships for a while now (nuclear aircraft carrier notably) and they sail pretty fine
Actually there are civilian nuclear powered ships, the USSR and the Russian Federation have built nuclear powered icebreakers (shoutout the Lenin ) which have had accidents but as far as I can tell, no human losses occurred
So I’d say building nuclear cargo ships isn’t really in the realm of science fiction, as long as proper construction standards are applied
What a wild difference between the cargo capacity of the two.
Yeah and the broader point is an important one; it won’t be too long before the impacts of this shift are very obvious in the marketplace. The US is under enormous pressure to get things back to normal, but the guy in charge is more pro-:isntrael: than Reagan, so I don’t see any way that can happen.
At some point, shipping magnets all along the Mediterranean are going to start pissing themselves in frustration.
Also, can’t help but see the BRI guys feeling a little extra smug about their plane for overland transport through the Middle East.
There’s a reason why Reagan wasn’t willing to tolerate Israeli bullshit, and it wasn’t because of his deep love and respect for the Lebanese people.
I had actually forgotten that China’s belt and road initiative involved electrified freight train routes from China up through Russia or the middle east into Europe proper. Iirc there is also work to build routes from China deep into Africa to allow reliable trade of resources and goods without ocean going freight.
Years ago I was honestly surprised to learn that there wasn’t already a reliable freight train network connecting all of continental Asia, Africa, and Europe. That everyone was sending freight longer distances via ocean going freight traveling around continents rather than via rail in straight lines over land seemed so wasteful. Ocean going freight should only be necessary for oversized freight, island nations, or freight between the eastern and western global hemispheres.
Intuitively, boats are more scalable than trains so to some degree it makes sense. Today, ocean shipping is cheaper than over land.
China’s feeling extra smug because their state-owned shipping can still transit the Red Sea lol
There was probably too much conflict and war in Europe in the past for countries to build international networks like that
Yeah. I remember something about everyone intentionally using incompatible rail gauges out of fear that other nations would use trains for military invasions. It’s only been in recent decades where we have started to see a globally adopted standard rail gauge for freight networks.
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there’s no way that israel is more strategically important to the west than the suez canal
They’re joined at the hip. The Israelis control a number of ports that load and unload cargo off the Suez. And some of the more notable Zionists are international shipping magnets.
Israel exists, in no small part, as a dagger to the neck of the Egyptian government, to prevent another Nasser from taking office. It is a means by which western states exert diplomatic, economic, and military control over the canal.
But the Yemenese aren’t threatening the Sinai Peninsula. They’re guarding the gates to the Red Sea all the way down by Djiabouti. That’s something Saudi Arabia was supposed to manage, and they’ve pooched it. So now the Americans are being forced to take a direct hand in a conflict that they’d invested trillions of dollars expecting proxies to handle.
Props to him for being so on brand, if a war isn’t going to profitable, it’s not worth having the war.
These ships are big. They are like the size of a skyscraper someone put on its side and attached a propeller to.
and they burn mad oil. the shit they burn is practically asphalt, and it SUCKS for the enviornment.
, create the nuclear cargo ship. please
Sailships (wind power) are another option for zero-emission cargo shipping
i cant wait for sailships to become more mainstream, they’re really cool
perhaps it’s not too late for me to become a pirate after all
Death to America
Would that not be a bit slow and potentially dangerous in storms and things? I don’t know much about modern sailships.
Cargo ships already run very slowly in order to save fuel. In a storm where the winds are so strong that the ship risks capsizing, the sails can simply be retracted. Also, if the time spent not moving when there is no wind is a concern, sails can be combined with diesel (or even nuclear) propulsion in a hybrid setup.
Also see: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2021/05/how-to-design-a-sailing-ship-for-the-21st-century
eeeh, yeah but if you want to effectively use sails, you need to take specific routes with good reliable wind. modern cargo ships can go in a straighter line.
so it’s not as easy as that, but yeah, they should bring back sailships even if that makes the transit times longer
Nah, since the advent of compressed wood we’ve had the ability to build massive, lightweight and ultra strong sailing ships
It’s just not profitable to do so
I know the standards of construction between civilian and military shipping are pretty different, but we have had nuclear powered ships for a while now (nuclear aircraft carrier notably) and they sail pretty fine
Actually there are civilian nuclear powered ships, the USSR and the Russian Federation have built nuclear powered icebreakers (shoutout the Lenin ) which have had accidents but as far as I can tell, no human losses occurred
So I’d say building nuclear cargo ships isn’t really in the realm of science fiction, as long as proper construction standards are applied