4 ms·

If anyone else is wondering, the largest ships carry 300,000 DTW, which is 300,000,000 kg each of which has 3400 kCal. Daily caloric intake of 2,000 may be suit

If anyone else is wondering, the largest ships carry 300,000 DTW, which is 300,000,000 kg each of which has 3400 kCal. Daily caloric intake of 2,000 may be suitable average, meaning that one ship can supply all energy needs for 1.5 million people and one year. (3700 * 300000 * 1000) / (365 * 2000)

ineedasername 5y ago
Keep in mind that grains are not only used for human consumption though. It's also used for animals. Egypt has 10M cattle alone [1] and a 1,000lb animal needs roughly 7x the calories as a person. [2] So that same largest cargo ship will only feed about ~200,000 cattle, requiring 50 such ships to feed the cattle population. They produce about 1.8 billion heads of poultry [3], and in total only about 1/3 of their animal feed requirements are produced domestically [1]. Animal feed appears to be in a different category from other grain imports for human consumption, probably because it really is a separate product containing a mixture of grains and nutrients from other sources. Unfortunately though, much of it is also imported from Ukraine [4] which has banned all exports of grains for now, and it's probably a reasonable assumption that this will include grains used in animal feed, since the issue is the food security of their own people. Eqypt is going to need a lot more newly-sourced grains or grain-based products, a large # of container ships full of it. [1] https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Livestock%20and%20Products%20Annual_Cairo_Egypt_09-01-2021.pdf https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadRepo... [2] https://cals.arizona.edu/forageandgrain/sites/cals.arizona.edu.forageandgrain/files/az9523.pdf https://cals.arizona.edu/forageandgrain/sites/cals.arizona.e... [3] https://crimsonpublishers.com/cras/pdf/CRAS.000502.pdf https://crimsonpublishers.com/cras/pdf/CRAS.000502.pdf [4] https://www.feednavigator.com/Article/2016/09/19/USDA-Egyptian-livestock-feed-costs-high-despite-low-global-commodity-pricing https://www.feednavigator.com/Article/2016/09/19/USDA-Egypti...
- pixl97 5y ago
  I mean, that is just an advertisement to reduce meat production and focus on starch based calories for humans rather than supplying to inefficient meat production.
  - ineedasername 5y ago
    I was thinking much the same as I wrote it, but didn't want to overburden an already long comment. Here though, I'll say that large cattle consume about 30 calories for each single calorie their meat will provide. Poultry seem more like 10 to 1. I'll own up to some level of hypocrisy on this as I am not a vegetarian, but I also won't complain much if further population growth makes meat consumption unsustainable when it means people starve. (I don't think we're there yet: world hunger right now seems to be more about other factors, economical and otherwise. I'm open to opposing viewpoints on it though)
log1_aa 5y ago
While the largest bulk carrier ships can indeed carry 300,000 tons of cargo, these ships are usually used to transport iron ore or other ores. It is very rare that wheat is transported on ships that carry more than 70,000 tons. The main reason is that neither origin or destination port logistics allow for larger shipments, and most buyers cannot store such large quantities of wheat.
- ineedasername 5y ago
  It seems that ships need to be specifically fitted out for something like grain transport as well. I'm sure there can be some reworking of things but it's bound to take time and resources and further boost cargo prices, and slow down on/offloading at ports and create additional bottlenecks. I'm tentatively optimistic that this situation isn't going to mean mass famines, but there will be a significant monetary cost and likely some human cost as well.

ineedasername 5y ago

Keep in mind that grains are not only used for human consumption though. It's also used for animals. Egypt has 10M cattle alone [1] and a 1,000lb animal needs roughly 7x the calories as a person. [2] So that same largest cargo ship will only feed about ~200,000 cattle, requiring 50 such ships to feed the cattle population. They produce about 1.8 billion heads of poultry [3], and in total only about 1/3 of their animal feed requirements are produced domestically [1]. Animal feed appears to be in a different category from other grain imports for human consumption, probably because it really is a separate product containing a mixture of grains and nutrients from other sources. Unfortunately though, much of it is also imported from Ukraine [4] which has banned all exports of grains for now, and it's probably a reasonable assumption that this will include grains used in animal feed, since the issue is the food security of their own people. Eqypt is going to need a lot more newly-sourced grains or grain-based products, a large # of container ships full of it. [1] https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Livestock%20and%20Products%20Annual_Cairo_Egypt_09-01-2021.pdf https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadRepo... [2] https://cals.arizona.edu/forageandgrain/sites/cals.arizona.edu.forageandgrain/files/az9523.pdf https://cals.arizona.edu/forageandgrain/sites/cals.arizona.e... [3] https://crimsonpublishers.com/cras/pdf/CRAS.000502.pdf https://crimsonpublishers.com/cras/pdf/CRAS.000502.pdf [4] https://www.feednavigator.com/Article/2016/09/19/USDA-Egyptian-livestock-feed-costs-high-despite-low-global-commodity-pricing https://www.feednavigator.com/Article/2016/09/19/USDA-Egypti...

pixl97 5y ago
I mean, that is just an advertisement to reduce meat production and focus on starch based calories for humans rather than supplying to inefficient meat production.
- ineedasername 5y ago
  I was thinking much the same as I wrote it, but didn't want to overburden an already long comment. Here though, I'll say that large cattle consume about 30 calories for each single calorie their meat will provide. Poultry seem more like 10 to 1. I'll own up to some level of hypocrisy on this as I am not a vegetarian, but I also won't complain much if further population growth makes meat consumption unsustainable when it means people starve. (I don't think we're there yet: world hunger right now seems to be more about other factors, economical and otherwise. I'm open to opposing viewpoints on it though)

log1_aa 5y ago

While the largest bulk carrier ships can indeed carry 300,000 tons of cargo, these ships are usually used to transport iron ore or other ores. It is very rare that wheat is transported on ships that carry more than 70,000 tons. The main reason is that neither origin or destination port logistics allow for larger shipments, and most buyers cannot store such large quantities of wheat.

ineedasername 5y ago
It seems that ships need to be specifically fitted out for something like grain transport as well. I'm sure there can be some reworking of things but it's bound to take time and resources and further boost cargo prices, and slow down on/offloading at ports and create additional bottlenecks. I'm tentatively optimistic that this situation isn't going to mean mass famines, but there will be a significant monetary cost and likely some human cost as well.