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We're discussing a ship that is 400 metres long, 59 metres wide, and has a draft of 16 metres[0]. It's carrying somewhere over 18,000 containers, each of which
by cricalix 6y ago
We're discussing a ship that is 400 metres long, 59 metres wide, and has a draft of 16 metres[0]. It's carrying somewhere over 18,000 containers, each of which could weight up to 27,000 kg[1]. It's unlikely that all of them weigh that much, but still, they can be heavy.
The load has been very carefully placed on the ship to ensure maximum stability. So the heavy loads are probably deeper in the hull and the lighter loads are higher up. When ships get unloaded in port, it's unlikely that all the containers are for that port, so an intricate dance starts - offloading some containers, moving other ones to maintain the balance, and loading new ones. At all times, you have to keep the load within tolerances so that your ship doesn't go "I'm out!" and roll over.
So yeah, money alone can't solve this in 24 hours. They've got to calculate the load changes when they offload containers, so that you don't accidentally cause the ship to roll over in the canal. You're not going to stop that happening with a few bits of rope tied to some concrete pillars in the ground..
[0] https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/EVER-GIVEN-IMO-9811000-MMSI-353136000 https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/EVER-GIVEN-IMO-9811000-...
[1] https://www.dsv.com/en/our-solutions/modes-of-transport/sea-freight/shipping-container-dimensions/dry-container https://www.dsv.com/en/our-solutions/modes-of-transport/sea-...
- cricalix 6y agoAnd as a bit more context, the cranes that are used at ports are capable of moving 60+ tonnes[0] - physics becomes a bit of a problem when your crane is a lever.. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container_crane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container_crane
- anyfoo 6y agoIs it even that easy to get any containers off the ship, without the machinery and infrastructure at ports? Is it common at all to get containers off a ship outside of docking areas?
- WJW 6y agoCertainly not common, but it can be done with specialized vessels.
- cricalix 6y agoWell, they fall off of ships all the time, especially in rough weather (all the time is hyperbole, but it absolutely happens). So sure, you can probably push one off with a pretty big lever, but shipping containers are actually designed to "clip" together to an extent, to make the load more solid. Problem is, the canal is only about 24 metres deep, so you're going to end up blocking the canal with containers instead if you just push them off. The modern shipping world is all about containers, container cranes, and container ships. 99 Percent Invisible hosted some episodes of the Containers podcast [0] that will probably provide some insight. 0: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/containers-ships-tugs-port/ https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/containers-ships-tugs...
- jacquesm 6y agoThis baby can do it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-26 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-26 It will take time but that thing has the capacity.