Group items tagged

The Ever Given incident--the cargo ship that blocked the Suez Canal for several days, pirmarily due to its size--has invoked new ideas about shipping--in this instance, it is wind powered ships. The ships would need to be smaller, but a zero emissions ship would be ideal. Can the increase in demand and port throughput still be accomdated with smaller ships? Is there a trade off for zero emissions and efficiency?

Good article on the entire shipping industry. The current backlogs have driven many to take a closer look at the day-to-day operations. This article gives a good overview of operations and problems. It identifies problems such as container shortages, to inefficient shipping, to integration with rail, and the effects of the pandemic. Lots of issues to be addressed as reliance on supply chains increase globally.

Just as there is talk of automated self driving cars, the same is for cargo ships. Only the reality is that autonomy will start with smaller ships, whith shorter hauls.

Lists 5 future trends in the shipping industry. All of the make sense, but each is only touched on a bit. Technology and the environment are really the two biggest, but others need to be considered.

Describes pressure on retailers (primarily the mega retailers) to reduce emissions from shipping efforts. Target/goal is ZERO emissions by 2030.

An article about emergining issues in ports. This doesn't touch on current problems related to back ups from COVID, but it identifies several other issues such as international considerations, environmental, port scalability, governance and volatility of demand. Interesting in that it touches on so many issues. While so many articles focus on climate change this touches on other areas such as port governance.

Mega companies are pledging zero carbon emissions. This puts pressure on the shippers to get the business of these mega companies. Failure to reach the 20240 goal could result in lost revenue. Interesting use of coporate pressure to make things happen. Once a few of the companies reach zero emissions, the others will face considerable pressure to do so as well.

Eighty-one percent of U.S. adults say the future of U.S. democracy is under threat, a sentiment shared by most Republicans, Democrats and independents. But when they were asked which party poses the bigger risk, it was a statistical tie between people who said the Democratic Party (42 percent) and the Republican Party (41 percent). An additional 8 percent of Americans blame both parties for playing a role. "We have one point of bipartisan agreement that the ship is sinking," said Edward Foley, who directs the election law program at Ohio State University. "But the problem is that each side blames the other for the ship sinking."

Article takes a look a worldwide effects of rising sea levels. There seems to be a more drastic effect likely in areas in Northern Sea areas, but all ports to be affected, and since 80% of commerice is shipped, the areas serviced by the ports will be affected.

The growth of the shipping industry and its corresponding carbon emissions. If he shipping industry were its own country, it would be th 6th largest producer of carbon emissions. It calls on investments from private sector to governments for the maritime industry to meet its 2050 net 0 carbon emission target

The article addresses current shipping problems. Though most problems can be attributed to the pandemic, other issues are noted that add to the frustration. Unions and US policy are the primary problems the author sees. Once the COVID hurdles are overcome, what's to say other problems still won't hinder the supply chain and what can we do about them. One place to start is the unions and their control over port operations and the other is trade policy--what will trade policy look like down the road.

More on the impact of climate change and sea ports and the cascading effect on the economy. Nature of ports makes them more susceptible to environment changes as a result of climate change--increased intense events and rising sea levels. Author calls for change now .

The segments mated briefly on Friday are codenamed B4 (the Super Heavy booster) and Ship 20 (the Starship upper-stage). The pair won't launch until they have a licence from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The government agency is currently conducting an environmental review that will invite at some point a 30-day public consultation. So, the maiden orbital outing is still some way off. But Mr Musk is very keen that it should happen well before the end of the year. He described seeing the brief mating of the segments on Friday as a "dream come true". He has to make Starbase work, everything else is dependent on it. Never good to have all your eggs in one basket.

Bottlenecks are happening at many ports. Demand is exceeding capacity to where shippers are seeking alternate ports to ship to. Some say bottlenecks will easily last through the fall and possibly up until 2023. US west coast ports traditionally see a higher volume of throughput than the east coast ports, but with bottlenecks, traffic is being redirected to the east coast ports and will likely be into the future.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-disasters-caused-corrosion-samuel-cowlishaw/ Surfside condominium collapses- June 2021: The main contributing factor under investigation is long-term degradation of reinforced concrete structural support in the ground-level parking garage under the housing units. Genoa, Italy Bridge Collapse- August 2018: The bridge was only 51 years old and the steel cables supporting the bridge failed likely due to damage from corrosion. Fall of Railway Traffic Lights- November 2014: A train traveling through England struck the railway traffic lights near an intersection. The post holding the lights fell due to corrosion and then struck by an oncoming train. Sinking of the Erika - December 1999: The Maltese taker broke into two while traveling near the coast of Britany France. Nearly 20,000 tons of oil were spilled. Multiple parts of the ship that had failed were compromised by corrosion. Bhopal, India Incident-December 1984: Corrosion caused toxic gas from a pesticide plant to leak into the atmosphere. More than 500,000 were exposed to the gas and official numbers says the tragedy caused 2,259 fatal victims. Unofficial sources say the number can be close to 8,000 fatal victms. Balcony Collapse at University of Virginia- May 1997: A balcony collapsed during the spring commencement ceremony. Rust had eaten way at the metal rods inside the balcony, which failed under the wight of the attendees. An engineering firm hired by the university said the collapse likely was caused by the failure of one of the four hangar rods that suspended the balcony.

Driverless trucks are already heading out to the highway, as shipping companies increasingly look to autonomous technology to meet rising demand for goods. The focus now: determining the best way to hand off trailers from machine to human.