Short sea shipping in the US?

" But, as you all have said, it cannot be done as long as greed is stronger than sense of duty to the society."
Jack Ma, one of China’s most successful and richest entrepreneurs, has responded to America’s growing globalisation backlash, arguing that the superpower has benefited immensely from the process – but that it has largely squandered its wealth.

“American international companies made millions and millions of dollars from globalisation,” Ma – the founder of Alibaba, the world’s largest online retailer – told participants on the second day of Davos. “The past 30 years, companies like IBM, Cisco and Microsoft made tons of money.”

The question is: where did that money go? It was wasted, Ma explained.

“In the past 30 years, America has had 13 wars at a cost of $14.2 trillion. That’s where the money went.” He also questioned America’s decision to bankroll Wall Street after the 2008 financial crash, arguing the money would have been better spent in other areas.

“What if they had spent part of that money on building up their infrastructure, helping white-collar and blue-collar workers? You’re supposed to spend money on your own people.”

It’s not globalisation – and everything that comes along with it, like free trade and outsourcing – that’s to blame for America’s woes. It’s the way the country’s elite managed the process.

“It’s not that other countries steal American jobs; it is your strategy – that you did not distribute the money in a proper way.”

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+1 for Jack Ma’s summary.

The US will soon be even more isolated as China continues with One Belt One Road, having an archaic Short Sea Shipping policy will hamper it further.

http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/australia-open-to-one-belt-one-road-engagement-as-china-targets-sea-ports/

The new One Belt One Road and/or new Silk Road will happen. China has been contributing money, building airports, loaning money and buying their way into countries all over the world for some time. They own the largest port on the Panama Canal and other key trade locations .They take a long view, to them a 100 years is a minute. They bide their time while others squander their national treasure on greed or wars that have no end. Look at the consolidation of the the container shipping trade that has happened in the last 3-5 years for an example of how things are going to end up.While the EU and USA destroy themselves from within China will maintain their plan. They have been around for 4000 years and have learned a thing or two.

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Alright, I’m calling it. I am officially reading Ombugge’s posts in Nick Kroll’s “european” voice.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSZoshxXSlg

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In America our betters could give a shit about ‘safety records.’ This isn’t your Emerald City. Profit is all that matters.

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Until we in the use can get past this problem it’s a not going to happen.

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Could short sea and river shipping come faster than you think?:
https://www.workboat.com/news/coastal-inland-waterways/mississippi-river-ports-planning-for-new-container-services/

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Odd drawing of that self propelled barge. The containers are stacked higher than the aft pilothouse.

Must have had the bean counters involved in the drawing then. “We can fit more cargo, they don’t have to be able to see! PROFIT, PROFIT, PROFIT!!”

Autonomous maybe?? :rofl::yum:

I would’ve gone with a forward house and some nice bridgewings.

Different view:

A link to the site the above view is from:

Detailed look at fwrd. superstructure and bow configuration:

Are they going to need unlimited tonnage officers with river pilotage for these? They look like a solid unit not tug and barge

13+ knots upriver (diesel electric propulsion) with 500+ reefer sockets with only 11,520 kW of generation? Might be a little light. Hopefully they’re not assuming all four engines running at 100% at all times.

I definitely hope they can make it happen.

The specs the bugge posted says >10,000 GRT. That’s going to require unlimited officers and I would imagine they’d want their officers to have federal pilotage to save on pilotage fees. They’ll hopefully run pilots for a while and train their officers to get pilotage since I expect they’ll have a hard time finding qualified people right out of the gate.

Then again, Master Unlimited Inland is insanely easy to get both sea time wise and exam wise, plus no STCW classes or assessments necessary, and that’s all it will require. Therefore, I don’t expect the pay to be extremely impressive.

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They’re probably not expecting to carry a full load of reefers very often and when they do they’ll run what’s necessary. Do you think that amount of power generation can provide that speed with maximum reefer load? That’s not my area of expertise.

On an ocean going ship, definitely not. But I’m not familiar with the hydrodynamics of barges operating on Rivers.

Regardless of the needed power, I hope they design in some excess capacity so the engines aren’t standing on their toes 24/7.

It says that the barge will have an Exoskeleton Hull Structure and a bow form to reduce resistance and waves.

Here is a copy of the US Patent for the said hull type:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US9415838

13 MPH or 11.3 kts.

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A Towboat pushing barges makes sense. They are doing it now on a limited scale. They have the needed equipment and crew.

A ship will not make sense until the river container trade becomes more mature and there is a need for more speed.

I don’t think this will happen until fuel prices go way up.