Dutch Merchant Marine and Agriculture

It is in fact a silly but successful marketing action. The cap is given away free by Unox, a Dutch smoked sausage producer. It is evident that the Dutch go for free gifts…

The cap does not cover the part of my anatomy I would be concerned about when jumping into freezing water. Do they have much smaller ones? Possibly of wool?

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It is one size for all as can be expected. That is possible because they used some kind of stretch material.

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Somebody whispered, I am a bit slow but I got it now. :joy:

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Size? Trying to find things would be more of a problem. The hat would be useful to keep those two little lumps behind your ears warm.

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“The practice of watching or engaging in exhibitionist sexual activity in a public place.” I am sure that the old Dogger crews would have been flabbergasted if they had learned about this…:wink:

There’s nothing that isn’t in the urban dictionary.

Hello, BlueScouse.

This assumption always frustrates the hell out of me. Where are all you American tug and tow guys out there defending your job???

First, the concept of moving ANY cargo aboard a ship is clearly understood as being the cheapest way to do something in our overall industry. But what has been the greatest negative impact on the AMERICAN FLAG vessels of the world has less to do with operational regulations. It has everything to do with the American tax and regulatory schemes that impact US business decisions. American shipowners/businesses opted out from “our” system and opted to go offshore where they can function with a higher profit margin.

Second, there are cargoes that must move aboard US flag vessels only, between two US ports. The Jones Act is the only thing standing in the way of ANY person out there (foreigner or American) that wants to maximize their profit margin … American citizens with their national security and economic security issues be damned.

Third, in Europe and in Asia, they cling to the self-propelled vessels, no matter how small, to move cargo within their domestic trade and within their intricate inland river system. In America, we have thousands of tugs and barges all around the continental US and Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands. The anti-Jones Act crowd loves to purposely remove this sector from ANY measure of what cargo volume is handled, how many hulls under the US flag are actually out there, the number of employed US mariners … all to the detriment of our US flag maritime industry. While the Euro and Asia industries count little ships of small deadweight, many operated by families living onboard that number just a few persons … the US domestic tug/barge sector is ignored. They aren’t seen as “ships” and left out of any accurate assessment. Meanwhile, a huge volume of cargo on one barge can carry likely three times the tonnage as a small coastwise self-propelled coaster. The tug crew towing massive barges (or two in a tandem tow) dwarf the foreign coasters in volume carried, all with a crew as small or smaller than a coaster!?!

But somehow they just don’t count, eh? I haven’t even mentioned the inland waterways and the push boats (towboats) that traverse thousands of miles of our incredible river system. They move millions of tons of bulk cargo and petroleum every day and have been for many lifetimes. But they get no respect either.

I would challenge anyone to compare the numbers of the TOTAL US flag fleet counting every US tug and ALL the barges that move cargo actively; combined with the number of all the US citizen mariners that are employed and size up our domestic and international fleet on an apple to apple comparison.

I understand we may NOT actually be bigger than some fleets, depending on the size of ships included and measured. But the sector of our industry that moves a huge volume of US cargoes is typically and frequently overlooked. That’s an unfair assessment.

Finally, I would say our industry is hamstrung, even on our best day, by a political class of leaders who not only have little understanding of the value of our maritime industry but further … don’t even care to learn anything about us or what we do for this nation. That goes for those men and women that work in the Pentagon who SHOULD have a better appreciation of the domestic shipping industry and what we provide to them. The US shipbuilding sector has much to do with the slow decline of the number of US-built hulls in the international trade sector. Their attention is focused on high-end profits at the expense of the Military and US taxpayers. That’s a national embarrassment … when you look at what they’ve been delivering lately. Ships that don’t work and can’t function as designed, after paying BILLIONS of dollars for a gigantic POS.

But that discussion is worthy of another post.

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Internationally we don’t appreciate how much freight and oil is moved by tug and barge in the US because we don’t see it. Unless you are loading grain in the Mississippi or in ports in Hawaii or say Jacksonville we never see them.
In the oil patch I only saw barges with jackets etc not cargo.
There have been a number of studies, attracted by low crew numbers and other lower costs of tug and barges but they just don’t work in the sea conditions encountered in other parts of the world.
A tug and barge operation running between New Zealand and Australia loaded with 10,000 tonnes of very high quality coking coal from New Zealand had voyage times worse than the days of sail. No one knew when they would arrive, sometimes a week and once 6 weeks.
Most of our exports are refrigerated.

In the Mediterranean Sea, I have seen only two operations with articulated tugs and barges. Both are owned by the iron/steel giant Arcelor-Mittal, out of their Taranto Iron and Steel Works in the Ionian Sea, at the southern tip of Italy. The ‘Ursa Maior’ working invariably the Genoa trip, in the northern Ligurian Sea; the ‘Ursa Minor’ the Ravenna trip in the northern Adriatic Sea.

A few years ago the ‘Ursa Major’ had a heavy engine room fire… she was rebuilt like new! It must be a good solution for the company.

The barges are loaded with raw steel coils at Taranto and transported to the industrial centers in northern Italy. Loading and offloading of these heavy coils takes some time while the tug can take another empty or loaded barge and return.

Thanks for the comment. Interesting.

Most of my deep sea experience is aboard large commercial vessels. But early in my career, I spent a lot of time sailing aboard your typical American style ocean going tug while towing barges on a wire. (for you tug/tow guys, that would be Sause Bros.) The routes I ran were only inter island in Hawaii towing container barges, flat deck barges, refined fuel barge, and a RoRo barge.

For the record, the channels between these islands are as rough as anything I have seen anywhere else in the world. I say that based on my deep sea experience sailing all around the world. With winds, seas, and swells being “funneled” between large mountains in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the channels can be horrific on any given day.

Yes, when it’s exceptionally bad, the tows slow down. But overall, the service out here keeps on schedule pretty darn good all things considered.

Further, there are many American tugs/barges running to Alaskan ports from the Pacific Northwest and many that cross the Pacific routinely in a trade between Puget Sound and Hawaii (or further south). They do these runs year round and the weather is what it is.

Transpac routes on tugs are usually towing heavy construction material or other special project cargo that is NOT as time sensitive as other consumables. It is a method of transport that offers an alternative (and lower) freight rate to shippers while getting their cargoes on a relatively good schedule. The tranpac trip between Seattle and Honolulu is about 3100 miles, takes about 15-17 days depending on weather. thats doing about 7-8 knots, easily within average tug ability.

Most importantly, American Naval Architects, to their credit, have refined the designs of barges to milk the most efficient amount of speed out of them. Our tugs have seen a vast improvement in design as ell, given the far better boats I see today than when i was working aboard them. With regard to speed, consumption, and voyage schedules, I also believe that tug operators in the US have learned that success comes with the right boat, towing the right barge, on the st suited route, geared towards the customers needs.

If that didn’t work, that wouldn’t be happening. People do what they know. We in the US have been doing tugs and tows in a few different variations for a few generations now. The Asian market and European market will likely not change.

Finally, here in the US, it was vessel owners that were trying to move cargo in a cheaper way, that motivated them to consider tugs to begin with. The nightmarish American regulatory and tax schemes penalize anything and everything in our industry. Thus the tug and barge were born to get around the penalizing attitude of our gov’t.

My original post was about this sector of the industry NOT getting enough recognition for what it accomplishes … statistically. I rest my case.

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It is interesting to see that many successful Dutch shipping companies (or at least the long-lasting ones) are family owned; Wagenborg, Spliethoff, Kahn, Wijne & Barends. They have the ability to look past the next quarterly figures and order ships at least somewhat anti-cyclical. Though I’m not sure if the management has actual experience on ships, running a shipping company with 60 ships in management requires a different skillset than sailing one.

If course those family ship-owners are also a bunch of penny-pinching scrooges. One of the reasons I’m not working under NL flag anymore, I joined the third-world villagers on the international offshore fleet and make more money there (only somewhat joking, my first offshore vessel was well past its fourth decade)

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Numerous studies in the last few years indicate that family enterprises are, overall, more successful than their non-family counterparts. Career managers have mostly their own interest at heart and not that of the company. They jump from one company to another at a whim, for a little bit higher salary or bigger car.

The focus on stewardship of family run businesses causes them to manage assets differently than many of their corporate peers who are chasing after quarterly returns, short term vision prevails over long long-term orientation. They are more prudent with debt and it also makes them more cautious with spending.

Family business leaders are committed to taking care of the enterprise and handing it over to the next generation in better condition than when they received it. When you ask owners whom do they work for, they answer ‘for my kids and their kids.’ They ensure that managers only make sound investments. Another advantage is that they have deep knowledge of the industry which increases their ability to bet on solid innovation investments.

However, we shouldn’t underestimate how big shipping companies were run. Almost the entire shore staff of the biggest shipping company Nedlloyd, up to the directors, were ex captains, mates and engineers, except for the administrative departments. They operated with their immense experience and deep knowledge of the industry like a family business. They all knew one other from their time at sea, mostly long time.

Apart from that there is the occasional company that is flushed down the drain by incapable heirs.

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The same apply to many Scandinavian shipping companies. Even some of the largest are family owned. A.P.Møller Maersk, Wil. Wilhelmsen, Anders Wilhelmsen and many others,

The Master owned and managed ship is not so common any more, except maybe some inland ships and small coasters.

Congratulations Dutchie, it’s something you can be proud of. In the 1800’s a Scottish Sea Captain who had transported agricultural products around the world immigrated to America and had seven children here. One of them worked with agricultural products and logistics and set up what is now the Cargill Food Company.

It appears he learned from his father about logistics and warehousing to make
money with agricultural products. (without having to be a farmer)