3 ms·

What astounds me is that we have ships ferrying things from all over the world which are available nearby as well. Take this LPG Tanker, taking lpg from Egypt t

by spockz 6y ago

What astounds me is that we have ships ferrying things from all over the world which are available nearby as well. Take this LPG Tanker, taking lpg from Egypt to the states and now its way to Singapore. You would think there are less roundabout ways of getting lpg ...

rob74 6y ago
What's even more mind-boggling to me is that container logistics are so cheap that a pair of jeans now goes from Kazakhstan (cotton) via Turkey (spinning) via Taiwan (weaving) via Poland (dying) via the Philippines (sewing) via Tunisia (finishing) to finally be sold in Germany (or elsewhere in Europe) - see http://competendo.net/en/A_Pair_of_Jeans http://competendo.net/en/A_Pair_of_Jeans . So, because shipping costs next to nothing (or, at least, it used to), you can optimize your supply chain and find the cheapest alternative (probably also with the laxest regulations) for each and every step in a global race to the bottom. Capitalism at its best...
- runarberg 6y ago
  As a hard liner socialist I take issue with capitalism owning the wonders that is today’s amazing system of global shipping. The current state of affairs is due in most part because of standardization. Standardizing container size and loading mechanism makes shipping very efficient indeed. It would be stupid not to do it. If we lived in my socialist utopia I’m pretty sure shipping would still be standardized and shipping would be just as efficient. And we would still experience the global trade network in all its glory (plus workers would get paid a fair share of the profits). In fact I’m gonna be so bold as to claim that we live in this wonderful world of standardized global shipping despite capitalism, not because. A capitalist loves their proprietary technology so they can patent it and gain exclusive markets. A capitalist would dream of having the market dominant container spec which they can sell proprietary equipment, provide exclusive training and monopolize the market for containers.
  - runarberg 6y ago
    Also note that global shipping relies heavily on socialist infrastructure. Docks are expensive and can often only be built by nation states funded by tax money. Sea charts, weather data, emergency response, positioning satellites, lighthouses, etc. are also almost always provided by nation states free of charged. One can definitely argue that global shipping is socialism at its best...
    - skeletal88 6y ago
      Sea charts are very expensive. Only a few countries have free charts. The charts made by national hydrography agencies should be free, at least for the people of the respective countries.
- spockz 6y ago
  Wow I did not know that. It also makes the whole system less resilient and slow. Imagine moving these operations more together. It would be like going from an JEE stack to something that compiles natively and starts up in ms compared to the JVM.
  - JCharante 6y ago
    That's the power of places like Shenzhen. Can source everything locally and manufacture it locally to turnaround prototypes in record time.

by spockz 6y ago

rob74 6y ago

What's even more mind-boggling to me is that container logistics are so cheap that a pair of jeans now goes from Kazakhstan (cotton) via Turkey (spinning) via Taiwan (weaving) via Poland (dying) via the Philippines (sewing) via Tunisia (finishing) to finally be sold in Germany (or elsewhere in Europe) - see http://competendo.net/en/A_Pair_of_Jeans http://competendo.net/en/A_Pair_of_Jeans . So, because shipping costs next to nothing (or, at least, it used to), you can optimize your supply chain and find the cheapest alternative (probably also with the laxest regulations) for each and every step in a global race to the bottom. Capitalism at its best...

runarberg 6y ago
As a hard liner socialist I take issue with capitalism owning the wonders that is today’s amazing system of global shipping. The current state of affairs is due in most part because of standardization. Standardizing container size and loading mechanism makes shipping very efficient indeed. It would be stupid not to do it. If we lived in my socialist utopia I’m pretty sure shipping would still be standardized and shipping would be just as efficient. And we would still experience the global trade network in all its glory (plus workers would get paid a fair share of the profits). In fact I’m gonna be so bold as to claim that we live in this wonderful world of standardized global shipping despite capitalism, not because. A capitalist loves their proprietary technology so they can patent it and gain exclusive markets. A capitalist would dream of having the market dominant container spec which they can sell proprietary equipment, provide exclusive training and monopolize the market for containers.
- runarberg 6y ago
  Also note that global shipping relies heavily on socialist infrastructure. Docks are expensive and can often only be built by nation states funded by tax money. Sea charts, weather data, emergency response, positioning satellites, lighthouses, etc. are also almost always provided by nation states free of charged. One can definitely argue that global shipping is socialism at its best...
  - skeletal88 6y ago
    Sea charts are very expensive. Only a few countries have free charts. The charts made by national hydrography agencies should be free, at least for the people of the respective countries.
spockz 6y ago
Wow I did not know that. It also makes the whole system less resilient and slow. Imagine moving these operations more together. It would be like going from an JEE stack to something that compiles natively and starts up in ms compared to the JVM.
- JCharante 6y ago
  That's the power of places like Shenzhen. Can source everything locally and manufacture it locally to turnaround prototypes in record time.