Mega Ships
First LAX got stuck with retrofitting the airport to receive Airbus A380 superjumbo jet. Now the port gets stuck with this.... the MSC Texas.According to the Dallas Morning News:
The MSC Texas is no ordinary boat. Designed to carry 8,238 20-foot containers, it's one of a new breed of giant container ships built to help satisfy the cravings of U.S. consumers for clothes, electronics and other goods made in China.
Just how massive are these vessels? Imagine something that can carry enough containers to fill a 1 million-square-foot shopping center — or five Wal-Mart Supercenters — with toys and other products piled 8 feet high.
The $85 million MSC Texas is only 36 feet shorter than the world's largest cruise ship, the 1,132-foot-long Queen Mary 2.
That kind of heft enables the carrier to exceed what today's largest ships can move by more than 2,000 containers. The more containers, the lower the cost to transport each one.
Inside the ship's massive hold, containers lie stacked nine levels deep. On deck, multicolored steel boxes sit in neat rows, rising six containers high into the air.
Though many marvel at its size, the MSC Texas doesn't represent the limits of what shipbuilders can do. On the horizon are ocean carriers that are 25 percent bigger, capable of hauling 10,000 20-foot containers.
So gigantic are these ships that only three U.S. ports — Long Beach, Oakland and Seattle — can handle them. They can't even fit into the Panama Canal.
Just as major airports are scrambling to alter their facilities so they can service the new Airbus A380 superjumbo jet, ports around the world are rushing to build longer berths and larger terminals to make room for the megaships.
At the Port of Los Angeles, engineers have been dredging its 45-foot-deep channels, extending them 8 feet lower.
Down the street, executives at the Port of Long Beach envision filling in some basins to create larger piers from smaller ones. Other initiatives to accommodate the huge carriers include widening the port's channels and building a taller Desmond Bridge.
"We do like megaships, but there's operational issues in having that much cargo at once," said Art Wong, a Long Beach spokesman.
The megaships take four to five days to unload instead of two to three. And they require the use of taller, bigger cranes than those found at most ports.
The flood of cargo is already forcing major railroads like BNSF Railway to make adjustments, such as running longer trains on nonstop routes across the West.
Posted by Anonymous @ 9/20/2005 05:10:00 AM
11 Comments:
Capitalism being what it is, everyone will make the adjustments and the goods will flow.
Just keep the bureaucrats out of it and we'll be fine.
God, I love this country.
Right.
And what are they taking back westbound? Our manufacturing base, and hundreds of billions in debt to be held by the governments of Asia. In the end, this debt will be a more powerful strategic asset for these Asian governments than all the nukes in the world.
Check out "The Sorrows of Empire" by Chalmers Johnson.
Noel noel shut up.
Check out an article on page A3 of today's Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Vehicle exhaust a health risk".
This article reports on two studies released today by the USC Keck School of Medicine.
Here is a quote from the article:
"In a separate study led by UCS Keck School of Medicine Professor Michael Jerrett, researchers studied two decades of data on Los Angeles area residents and found that as the levels of fine particulate matter increased, so did the risk of death."
According to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the two ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the two largest sources of fine particulate matter (aka diesel exhaust) in the South Coast air Basin.
Check out "Weak Dollar Sends More Goods Out of U.S. Through Local Ports", L.A. Business Journal, September 5, 2005, page 7.
Here are a couple of quotes:
"Indeed, local trade consultants have seen huge increases in shipments of basic commodities to Asia - especially China - as well as Europe. Among the items being shipped are waste paper, plastic and metal products, cement, and agricultural commodities, including hay bales."
"But the single largest component of container exports at both local ports is - and has long been - empty containers. After the products are offloaded at the ports, the containers are needed in Asia to ship even more products over."
The good news is that these ships are so big, it'll only take five trips per year to handle all trade with the rest of the world.
Well not quite yet. The two ports will handle about 13 million twenty foot equivalent units this year. They forecast 47 million in 2025.
Jim Hahn's commission screwed up the Port of LA. They had no leadership and played favorites. Name one major accomplishment Hahn's commission made? None, Nick Tonsich didn't know anything about trade or business and had so much conflict. It's amazing the feds didn't go after him. It was Bradley who had the leadership and vision. Under Bradley's watch, Pier 300 and 400 was planned and the Riordan Commission implemented both Pier 300/400 and the Alameda Corridor. Nick Tonsich came in and nothing got done. No matter what you may say about Riordan, he at lease selected commissioners who were doers and got the job done. Both Bradley and Riordan should be congratulated for preparing LA for the future and making the Port of LA the number one port in the country.
The plastic crap we are importing from China, much of it toys and clothing for our children, isn't good for us on many accounts: the trade imbalance, the trade defecit, the economy, loss of jobs, and even the plastics themselves. These plastics are toxic, and should be looked at as vessels by which toxic plastic residues are delivered to our children through their skin and mouths.
Our insatiable desire to fill our children's bedrooms with this stuff, and our homes whith this stuff makes for a poor future, on many levels, for the USA.
Most of us will live to see it. Some of us are already seeing it. While others blindly chastise those who speak out against the poisoning of America's air and water, the poisoning of America's children, the poisoning of America's economy.
Go capitalism! Go consumerism! Take us to Hell.
5:37
Thank you for your accurate information.
Mr. Noel Park, stop polluting the port by spewing that mis-information.
Look at the 9/11/05, 5:10 AM post on this blog, "Pollution Coverage Gone Nuts".
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