Yup. Anywhere else in the world I go you might find 4 people on the dock per crane and an operator. In the US there are at least a dozen and most of them are sitting on their ass. They complain non stop and play little games like work slow downs that play havoc with the ships schedule. I’m a fairly pro union kind of guy but the longshoremen are not on my Christmas gift list which is all the more troubling since the union I belong to is affiliated with them. I’ve never once felt a kinship to the guys on the dock in the US. They’re more of a pain in the Chief Mates ass than an asset in my opinion.
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I remember what longshoremen looked like, and what they could do, 40 years ago. There are some good longshoremen today, but watching some of these overpaid know-nothing freaks pretend to work is sickening.
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I remember during annual hull surveys of containerships, finding longshoremen sleeping on the outboard side against the tank vents. . . .just made my method of testing that the ball checks were free all the more enjoyable. . . .
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A new step towards autonomous shipping. Norwegian ferry earlier used to test wireless charging and auto-docking now also completed succesfully auto-crossing under supervision of norwegian maritime directorate.
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And they were so thick you probably caught more than one.
I would check the vents by kicking them with the heel of my boot, to hear the ball rattle around. . . quite a jolt for a sleeping longshoreman. . . . “Oh, I didn’t see you. . .so sorry. . . .”
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Worlds first intelligent VLOC delivered:
Will smart ship class soon become the norm for new vessels?? Your opinion?
Autonomous ships crossing oceans by 2030??:
Yet one more company demonstrate their ability to automate ships.
This time it is ABB who remotely controlled a pax ferry in Finland:
Their aim is apparently not to develop unmanned ships, only to automate the operation to “help the skilled crews in their tasks”.
If you need to have crew on board a cargo ship crossing oceans autonomously, or as a remote controlled drone, that means that the ship requires living quarters and all the amenities to go with it.
As far as I can see, that does not serve the purpose, or justify the cost of automation. It MAY increase safety of navigation, but does not do away with any other risk factors.
Proving up the ability to either operate the navigation and docking process autonomously, or by remote control on small ships in restricted waters serves a purpose in the development phase.
But for ocean crossing you also need to prove that the propulsion system can operate autonomously and reliably for extended periods, otherwise it defeats the purpose. (Lower costs, less equipment requiring maintenance and less risk to human limbs and lives)
Sail making a comeback, this will be interesting:
I wonder what they’ve been smoking. That’s not a lot of sail.
I think two things would have to happen for sail to become economically practical on any significant scale:
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Fuel would need to become extremely expensive to burn (perhaps, a combination of very high fuel prices and very stringent emissions restrictions), and
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The volume of world trade would have to drop to a small fraction of what it is today.
I don’t think either of those things can happen without some exceptional and overwhelming event (wiping out a large portion of World population).
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Some voyages would be OK because the vessel would be running before the prevailing wind.
A voyage from Australia or New Zealand to San Francisco is a bit harder heading north to up near Guam before heading East following the old square rigged passage.
Tugsailor is right on I think there has been 6 billion people born since I was.
Sails (or “rotor sails”) are not likely to be the only mode of propulsion on large ships in the future.
They will help reduced the fuel consumption from conventional engines.
The requirement to reduce green house gas emission is the driving force behind the development of alternative ways to propel ships, cars, truck, buses etc., not cost of crude oil.
At least that is the case in most of the world and for responsible multi-national companies, like Maersk etc. Even some oil companies are getting on the band wagon in deed, not only in talks.
Whether they are doing so from guilt, newfound conscience, public pressure, or because it is good business can be debated. But it doesn’t matter as long as they do the right thing.
One thing for sure, countries and companies that lag behind will loose out in the long run.
The cost of wear and tear and maintenance on conventional sails is not a lot less than the cost of fuel.
I don’t know if “conventional sail” is in the running.
Lots of ideas out there to research and more coming out almost on a daily basis.
Personally I think all these “aux. solutions” that will reduce emission 10-30% is a dead end.
Fuel cells and hydrogen as the only source is the way to go. Solar, wind and wave power can be used on some ships and in some cases, but I don’t think we’ll see ships powered fully by such means, except in very special cases.
MAN betting on hydrogen, it will ultimately need large scale solar arrays to harvest it. The world’s deserts could become assets?
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wont shipping die once all countries have 3D printers for most manufactured products?
Just a minute I’m just going to 3D print a steak sandwich.
It will probably be more tasty than a MacDonalds.
The bigger questions should be what happens when the 3D Printers start to print copies of themselves!