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The problem with palm oil is that it's an amazing product with amazing properties and is very efficient to produce but unfortunately is best produced in countri

The problem with palm oil is that it's an amazing product with amazing properties and is very efficient to produce but unfortunately is best produced in countries that have no qualms about razing their environment to produce it. We used to clear-cut entire forests in Canada (and still do some of that). We destroy eco-systems for oil production. Brazil razes the Amazon to produce beef and soy. Lots of countries engage in environmental destruction for the sake of the economy. Palm oil isn't particularly bad, it's just choices people make.

fuzzfactor 7y ago
In the US, palm oil is not a domestic oil, it's one that comes in chemical tankers. Petroleum & fuel tankers are too gross, those materials may be in the same terminal, but not the same ship as palm or tallow. And they don't need to fully remove every last bit of diesel after discharge for instance before loading gasoline. They fully clean out the heavy fuel and crude carriers far less often, compatibility is usually acceptable. Ship tanks are just challenging to get really clean, depending on what has been in them. Those developing plantations & ranches are in countries where they need our industrial chemicals, and we seem to consume their products in similar bulk. It could be considered an uneven exchange, but that's what intercontinental commerce has been for millennia. While shipbuilding has been largely motivated by profitmaking according to value differential, buyers and sellers are both making money so they're accordingly influential. These are the chemical ships where they have to clean out most compartments after cargo discharge anyway, so they can load something different for the departing voyage. Chief Mates love it after they have discharged things like Benzene or Methanol in developing countries because they leave the cargo compartments and maze of on-board pipes & valves cleaner than any intentional procedure. And pure chemicals like this just evaporate. They know they can load almost anything after that.

fuzzfactor 7y ago

In the US, palm oil is not a domestic oil, it's one that comes in chemical tankers. Petroleum & fuel tankers are too gross, those materials may be in the same terminal, but not the same ship as palm or tallow. And they don't need to fully remove every last bit of diesel after discharge for instance before loading gasoline. They fully clean out the heavy fuel and crude carriers far less often, compatibility is usually acceptable. Ship tanks are just challenging to get really clean, depending on what has been in them. Those developing plantations & ranches are in countries where they need our industrial chemicals, and we seem to consume their products in similar bulk. It could be considered an uneven exchange, but that's what intercontinental commerce has been for millennia. While shipbuilding has been largely motivated by profitmaking according to value differential, buyers and sellers are both making money so they're accordingly influential. These are the chemical ships where they have to clean out most compartments after cargo discharge anyway, so they can load something different for the departing voyage. Chief Mates love it after they have discharged things like Benzene or Methanol in developing countries because they leave the cargo compartments and maze of on-board pipes & valves cleaner than any intentional procedure. And pure chemicals like this just evaporate. They know they can load almost anything after that.