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No, they don't use imperial. The mile you are talking about is the Nautical Mile[0] which is the consequence of having 90 degrees between the equator and the po

No, they don't use imperial. The mile you are talking about is the Nautical Mile[0] which is the consequence of having 90 degrees between the equator and the pole, then splitting each of those into 1/60[1] (also called a minute), which although arbitrary complements the base of degree based measurements. Today the nautical mile is defined as 1852 meters compared to 1,609.344 for the mile. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_mile [1]: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Nautic_mile_definition_v2_English.svg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Nautic_m...

dogma1138 5y ago
Yes I understand how the nautical mile works, the point was still that it’s not metric. Altitude and physical length units are still in feet tho, same goes for weight which is in long tonnes.
- SECProto 5y ago
  > Altitude and physical length units are still in feet tho, same goes for weight which is in long tonnes. The article on suezmax[1] uses metric as the primary units, even in images/charts. The article on deadweight [2] explains that long tonnes were used historically but now metric tonnes are used. I don't know much about the units used for altitude in shipping [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suezmax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suezmax [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadweight_tonnage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadweight_tonnage
  - hutrdvnj 5y ago
    Ah okay, so it is not a imperial feet/mile, but a nautic feet/mile. Okay, that makes sense then.
    - SECProto 5y ago
      To speculatively answer your original question about why Business Insider reported the plans in US Customary units: It's an American media company. Albeit owned by a German publishing house. And the article was authored by someone out of London (where imperial units are still used commonly). But if you check other sources on the same news (eg Chinese state media company Xinhua [1] used only metric, or the Russian state-owned RT [2] uses only metric, while the Canada-based Reuters [3] uses a bizarre mix of only-metric, only-imperial, and both) - They're all writing for their target audience. Without watching the original TV address, I couldn't say which was originally used. [1] http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/africa/2021-05/16/c_139948357.htm http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/africa/2021-05/16/c_1399483... [2] https://www.rt.com/news/523483-suez-canal-expand-southern-stretch-blockage/ https://www.rt.com/news/523483-suez-canal-expand-southern-st... [3] https://www.reuters.com/world/suez-canal-chief-says-southern-stretch-be-expanded-2021-05-11/ https://www.reuters.com/world/suez-canal-chief-says-southern...

dogma1138 5y ago

Yes I understand how the nautical mile works, the point was still that it’s not metric. Altitude and physical length units are still in feet tho, same goes for weight which is in long tonnes.

SECProto 5y ago
> Altitude and physical length units are still in feet tho, same goes for weight which is in long tonnes. The article on suezmax[1] uses metric as the primary units, even in images/charts. The article on deadweight [2] explains that long tonnes were used historically but now metric tonnes are used. I don't know much about the units used for altitude in shipping [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suezmax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suezmax [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadweight_tonnage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadweight_tonnage
- hutrdvnj 5y ago
  Ah okay, so it is not a imperial feet/mile, but a nautic feet/mile. Okay, that makes sense then.
  - SECProto 5y ago
    To speculatively answer your original question about why Business Insider reported the plans in US Customary units: It's an American media company. Albeit owned by a German publishing house. And the article was authored by someone out of London (where imperial units are still used commonly). But if you check other sources on the same news (eg Chinese state media company Xinhua [1] used only metric, or the Russian state-owned RT [2] uses only metric, while the Canada-based Reuters [3] uses a bizarre mix of only-metric, only-imperial, and both) - They're all writing for their target audience. Without watching the original TV address, I couldn't say which was originally used. [1] http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/africa/2021-05/16/c_139948357.htm http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/africa/2021-05/16/c_1399483... [2] https://www.rt.com/news/523483-suez-canal-expand-southern-stretch-blockage/ https://www.rt.com/news/523483-suez-canal-expand-southern-st... [3] https://www.reuters.com/world/suez-canal-chief-says-southern-stretch-be-expanded-2021-05-11/ https://www.reuters.com/world/suez-canal-chief-says-southern...