I’m starting to come around to this viewpoint, myself. There are almost no American owned shipyards as it is anyhow, with the exception of a few that build for the military. I just don’t see the upside of trade protectionism for a bunch of foreign investors. As has been pointed out elsewhere, the few Americans involved are hamstrung anyhow by their refusal to modernize their financing methods.
Anyone who has spent time in an American shipyard and interacts with the labor knows damn well that the skilled yardbirds will be welcomed into the local trades. Job protections are an excuse, not a justification.
It seems like you don’t spend much time in CT near the smaller ports.
Where do you intend to stow the containers between offload and getting on the trucks? What’s the water depth in these ports and are they going to have to be dredged or widened for coastwise container ships? Are you going to bring in mobile cranes every time there’s a ship in? If you start loading up the city streets with these trucks carrying containers the traffic is going to be 100 times worse than it already is on already poorly maintained roads. When’s the last time you drove on 95 through New Haven or New London? It’s a nightmare without added traffic. Who’s paying for all this? People are already losing their shit over the state spending money on the water front for Windfarms.
I’m all for the idea, it means more work closer to home for me. Just doesn’t seem like there’s a big push for it whether the ship cost 40m for 200m
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The investors I spoke about have done their due diligence on all aspects of short sea container shipping along the USNE coast including the issues you mention.
Several projects are under constant evaluation and it always comes back to the high cost of to build a ship in the US.
I happen to live in CT between New Haven and New London, though I am not an expert on the issues you mention. Both New Haven and New London have direct access to I-95.
It is easy to come up with reasons why not to do something.
Toby Koenig and who else? The fact is that where feeding makes sense (in reality, not in a fantasy land with no Master Contract, no empties to return to the hub port, no need for a chasis pool, etc etc) it’s being done. Columbia has 900 teu barges that move with a five person tug crew. What’s the manning going to be on a US flag feeder ship? How much faster is that ship going to get to New London, New Haven, Quanset or Providence than a barge, at what cost, and what benefit does that time savings get you that all of a sudden it makes sense?
Approximately 100% of the proposals I see are money grabs by somebody looking to collect grants for pilot programs, demonstrations, or a subsidy for something that makes no economic sense.
And they ALWAYS, with zero exception, leave something out of the cost side that is obvious if you’ve ever worked with containers.
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Who are they and where have they published their findings?
It’s barely profitable with old tugs and barges and multiple previous attempts have failed at making it profitable at all. How can it magically be profitable once you add the expense of a $40 million ship?
Shhh. We’re blowing the market opportunity to be consultants on the “no” side of this waste of money. Can’t give away the goods!
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A US built tub/barge unit probably costs the same as a foreign built small container ship or ATB. But barges are extremely slow and carry a limited in the number of containers. But I am not the expert on this; the investors are, and they say it would work. Hundreds of potential US mariner jobs. Reduced truck traffic, lower pollution, safer, less damage to our roads. There is a shortage of truck drivers and they hate the NE corridor run.
It is easy to say why something will not work. Good thing Elon Musk did not listen to the nay-sayers. He says I am going to build rockets better than NASA and he did.
Yes, but these aren’t NEW tugs and barges, they’re old and already paid for and it’s still barely economical.
But also cheaper to operate because if lower inspection criteria, fewer crew, smaller licenses, etc.
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You may be correct…Marad gives $billions in grants for short sea shipping that are useless and often politically motivated.
No federal subsidies are needed for NE short sea container shipping…just the ability to use foreign built, US flag ships.
The issues you list are not your problem, they are the problem for the investors who want to create a short sea trade in the USNE.
Do you have a problem with granting a JA US build waiver for ships that would serve routes that currently do not exist? That is the question.
Who are they and where are you seeing them say it’s going to work?
His rocket exploded after lift off last week
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What are you talking about? FY23 sees marine highway grant funding at $12 million. A large drop from the (still small) $39Mil of 2022. These projects help and are very important, but grant money doesn’t go far, and is a grain of sand on a beach when compared to some federal programs. Seems like you have no clue what you’re talking about when it comes to this kind of stuff.
To date Marad has spent $billions on their Marine Highway and Short Sea shipping programs, including part of the Marad budget of about $1b/year. Add it up. These programs have produced close to zero results.
It appears that you are fine with the status quo as you have presented no new ideas, only criticism and insults. That is easy to do. What is hard to do is to foster positive change. Give it a try.
Who’s insulted? All the concerns and criticism are fair. You keep saying “investors are saying x, y, z.” But haven’t given any sort of article or correspondence to back any of that up. Are you an investor and your word is good enough?
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A useless and naive comment about the new SpaceX rocket explosion. NASA contracted SpaceX to build this new rocket for it next fight to the moon. It is encouraging to see that, unlike you, NASA recognizes the value of private enterprise. How many new ventures do you know of that were perfect from the start? Name them…waiting for your list.
NASA has embraced private companies like SpaceX, Blur Origin and Virgin Galactic because they recognize that private companies are much more efficient than they are.
Why are you such a negative person? I would hate to live that way.
Sir. This is a Wendy’s professional mariner’s forum 
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Look I don’t know your background so I can only judge based on what you’ve presented so far. You joined the forum and your first post was speculation on call options in the event of a China-Taiwan Conflict. You sound more like a finance-bro with very little maritime understanding then an actual professional in the maritime industry. If you want anyone here to take you intellectually seriously then you have to show that you know what you’re talking about.
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Buddy, more than one person here has been asking for a list of your “investors” and their studies but you’re asking me for a list on a thread you started and have been backing?
Come on, man. If you want to have an actual conversation provide some bonafides.