[HN Gopher] Chaos Strikes Global Shipping
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Chaos Strikes Global Shipping
Author : donmcc
Score : 67 points
Date : 2021-03-06 16:57 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nytimes.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nytimes.com)
| Shank wrote:
| As soon as the pandemic started, airmail services stated to shut
| down. Normally, airmail packets "hitch a ride" on commercial
| airliners already making the trip. But when those ceased, airmail
| service stopped. So what happened? All of the pending airmail got
| switched to "surface mail," which is code for shipping on a boat.
| I had several packages go from an ETA measured in days to an ETA
| measured in weeks and months.
|
| I imagine that the whole thing cascaded from that. Online orders
| that would normally take a plane trip got redirected to the
| surface, and then the pipeline kept backing up. Until the world
| is connected and back to normal, bottlenecks like this will
| probably still exist.
| cwwc wrote:
| > Every container that cannot be unloaded in one place is a
| container that cannot be loaded somewhere else.
|
| Never thought of it in this sense as a zero-sum game -- but it
| does make a lot of sense why this is pushing the stock up for
| companies like Triton International.
| baybal2 wrote:
| That's the rationale for building "megaports." Few giant
| automated ports save on ships having to hop around smaller
| ports to unload few containers.
| [deleted]
| js2 wrote:
| > Since they were first deployed in 1956, containers have
| revolutionized trade by allowing goods to be packed into standard
| size receptacles and hoisted by cranes onto rail cars and trucks
| -- effectively shrinking the globe.
|
| If you want to know more about this, there's a pretty good book
| on it: _The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World
| Smaller and the World Economy Bigger_
| thatguy0900 wrote:
| https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/52/hodes.php another
| interesting article in the same vein, about the importance of
| pallets
| xyst wrote:
| if businesses would not abuse cheap labor that china and other
| third world countries offer, we wouldn't be in this mess (or at
| least it wouldn't be as impactful)
|
| besides labor costs, it doesn't make sense that an item that is
| bought in from X company with an HQ in Y country has to be
| manufactured in Z country and shipped thousands of miles to the
| consumer.
|
| the amount of carbon generated from our reliance on third world
| countries must be ridiculously high, and wasteful.
| missedthecue wrote:
| Not sure why the word "abuse" was the first one out of your
| vocabulary. Asia is much better off thanks to expanded trade
| with the West, and the West has likewise benefited greatly.
| MrBuddyCasino wrote:
| "regions with low wages should not be permitted to increase the
| amount of available jobs and therefore increase the standard of
| living by shifting production there, this will <insert magic
| here> make things better"
| cmehdy wrote:
| Interesting that the conclusion has to do with the type of
| consumption, because as I was reading the article I was unable to
| figure out whether there had been an increased consumption or
| "just" a lack of availability of containers and workers. But the
| article ends with:
|
| > Some experts assume that as vaccinations increase and life
| returns to normal, Americans will again shift their spending --
| from goods back to experiences -- reducing the need for
| containers.
|
| Beyond masks, is it really the case that consumption of goods
| dramatically increased? Is it only a North America issue? A US
| issue?
| x86_64Ubuntu wrote:
| The article talks about dockworkers and truck drivers falling
| ill and quarantining, as well as what Americans spend their
| money on has changed. Instead of spending money on going out,
| we are spending it on home focused items, specifically ones
| that are shipped and made in China.
| thesumofall wrote:
| Working in shipping. No, it's the same in Europe and partially
| also elsewhere. People shift spending from services to home
| office equipment, furniture, electronics, ...
| WJW wrote:
| I have been watching too many Warhammer 40k videos on youtube and
| completely misunderstood the title of this article at first
| glance.
| [deleted]
| ampdepolymerase wrote:
| Where's Flexport when you need them? Weren't they supposed to
| disrupt this space?
| walrus01 wrote:
| compared to the size of entities like COSCO and Maersk,
| flexport has no clout, scale or ability to "disrupt" anything.
|
| turns out that disrupting things in software is easier,
| disrupting physical things in the real world that are heavy and
| cumbersome, more difficult.
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(page generated 2021-03-06 23:02 UTC)