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I work in container shipping (in IT for a company), we obviously have internal mapping tools we can’t share but whenever anyone is interested in this stuff I ju

by sen 3y ago

I work in container shipping (in IT for a company), we obviously have internal mapping tools we can’t share but whenever anyone is interested in this stuff I just like to point them to: https://www.marinetraffic.com/ https://www.marinetraffic.com/ Then imagine how many containers fit on a typical vessel. Obviously not all the icons there are carrying containers but I still find it awe inspiring seeing the sheer amount of traffic moving at any one time.

geraldhh 3y ago
> Then imagine how many containers fit on a typical vessel. given your domain knowledge, could you clarify that aspect pls?
- seymore_12 3y ago
  Just because ship can carry nominal value of 15K TEUs, it is very hard to estimate how many containers are currently on board. Also, empty container looks exactly like the full container from the outside, looking at the ship. One very interesting aspect of ship operations is the art of stowage of containers. The complexity associated with it is substantial. 3D large scale Tetris. This is a good introductory article https://www.shippingandfreightresource.com/container-stowage-planning-and-how-it-works/ https://www.shippingandfreightresource.com/container-stowage...
- sen 3y ago
  All cargo/intermodal logistics stuff is measured in TEU’s, aka “Twenty foot Equivalent Units”, eg a standard shipping container. The sizes actually vary but for thinking about the numbers, pretend they’re all standard twenty foot containers that you see on trucks. The average container ship can carry anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 TEU, with the newer VLCS and ULCS ships carrying up to 25,000 TEU. That’s 5-25,000 containers on a single ship, and there’s estimated to be around 20,000 container ships currently operating. Global container trade is somewhere near 1 Billion TEU per year currently. All of that is ignoring Bulk Cargo such as oil/liquid tankers, dry goods (grains and ores, etc), and other non-containerised goods. Every single number in this industry is mind boggling.
  - CPLX 3y ago
    > pretend they’re all standard twenty foot containers that you see on trucks. Just for clarity the standard shipping container we’re all familiar with visually is 40 feet long, and is two TEU’s.
  - Ekaros 3y ago
    Might be useful to imagine all the stuff you buy in a year, even well packaged. And now multiply that by amount of people that aren't essentially sustenance farmers... Now that I think of it, maybe 1 billion TEU is not that much. Single person does not even use full container...
    - marcosdumay 3y ago
      Just remember that for making the final product you buy, there are several "generations" of components that also need to be transported.
everybodyknows 3y ago
I'm working on visualization of this kind of flow information. Can you point to any publicly available data sets? Several years out of date would be acceptable for present test and demo needs.

by sen 3y ago

geraldhh 3y ago

> Then imagine how many containers fit on a typical vessel. given your domain knowledge, could you clarify that aspect pls?

seymore_12 3y ago
Just because ship can carry nominal value of 15K TEUs, it is very hard to estimate how many containers are currently on board. Also, empty container looks exactly like the full container from the outside, looking at the ship. One very interesting aspect of ship operations is the art of stowage of containers. The complexity associated with it is substantial. 3D large scale Tetris. This is a good introductory article https://www.shippingandfreightresource.com/container-stowage-planning-and-how-it-works/ https://www.shippingandfreightresource.com/container-stowage...
sen 3y ago
All cargo/intermodal logistics stuff is measured in TEU’s, aka “Twenty foot Equivalent Units”, eg a standard shipping container. The sizes actually vary but for thinking about the numbers, pretend they’re all standard twenty foot containers that you see on trucks. The average container ship can carry anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 TEU, with the newer VLCS and ULCS ships carrying up to 25,000 TEU. That’s 5-25,000 containers on a single ship, and there’s estimated to be around 20,000 container ships currently operating. Global container trade is somewhere near 1 Billion TEU per year currently. All of that is ignoring Bulk Cargo such as oil/liquid tankers, dry goods (grains and ores, etc), and other non-containerised goods. Every single number in this industry is mind boggling.
- CPLX 3y ago
  > pretend they’re all standard twenty foot containers that you see on trucks. Just for clarity the standard shipping container we’re all familiar with visually is 40 feet long, and is two TEU’s.
- Ekaros 3y ago
  Might be useful to imagine all the stuff you buy in a year, even well packaged. And now multiply that by amount of people that aren't essentially sustenance farmers... Now that I think of it, maybe 1 billion TEU is not that much. Single person does not even use full container...
  - marcosdumay 3y ago
    Just remember that for making the final product you buy, there are several "generations" of components that also need to be transported.

everybodyknows 3y ago

I'm working on visualization of this kind of flow information. Can you point to any publicly available data sets? Several years out of date would be acceptable for present test and demo needs.