In 1961-62 I was a marine engineering trainee at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. We were building the LPD1 (Raleigh) which had a large crane built by a company in Washington state (Skagit Bridge and Iron?). Jack, their engineer was on site to help with the installation but he also traveled to New Jersey to work on the installation of a shipping container crane. He explained to me what a shipping container was and said the crane he was installing in Jersey was the first of a kind and invited me to the dedication. At the event a full crew of stevedores were on hand even though the crane was going to do all the work. Some sharp PR guy had the foresight to have white coveralls with the stevedore's union logo embrodried on the back given to all the crew. At the end of the day the TV reporters filming the event took note that all the stevedore coveralls had blemished backsides caused by them sitting around all day. Yes containers changed the world.
A 120 well container train double stacked is 240 containers. More if you add DPUs. That's 58 trains you have to move out of the port every time one of these ships comes into port. Assuming each train also brings in that many empty containers to go back.
Great report. There was a school of thought back in New York in the 1980s, a Port Authority employee formerly mariner, that McClean got his idea from how the US Army used 20 foot truck bodies as containers shipping to Alaska during WW2, based on this man's personal experience sailing then. In the eaerly 80s, after the energy crisis in the 70s, McClean started a company using around the world service, using slower, fuel efficient ships carrying up to I think 5500 TEU. Econ ships, they were called. By the mid-8-s they were bankrupt and tied to docks in NYC. This is a small world - you mentioned one Masrsk ship that was sold to the US Military and just sent to the breakers, the Shughart. I sailed on that ship as bosun in 2016, New Orleans to a shipyard in New York for her annual five year refit, and I knew then she had been a container vessel - converted to a ro-ro ship with stern ramps able to hold the vehicles of a full army division.
Two other advantages of containers over just palletized cargo was that containers didn't require huge warehouses on the dock. Each container was it's own warehouse. This was another advantage the military liked during the Vietnam war. Additionally containers are intermodal they can be loaded and discharged on ships trucks and trains in the same manor.
I never considered the warehouse aspect. For me two points were enough to sell me. 1: Make a standard container that all equipment could be designed around, and let the end user pack it somewhere other than the port. (They know the items best anyway, reducing breakage liability.) 2. Make the base model container as large as practical for the least capable mode of transport, (On-highway trucks in this case.) thus minimizing handling. Customers with smaller needs or dense cargo can use containers that are a nice fractional size of the base model. Back in the wooden ship days they did the same with barrels, standard size, standard handling, and as large as a man could wrangle. They were also weather resistant. Kegs(half the volume of a barrel.) and smaller casks were used for dense cargo like iron nails.
Good video never the history of containers, but as a truck driver have heard many horror stories of moving containers, including ports not allowing containers to be weighed before leaving the ports trapping the driver's with over weight boxes and no way to get them legal. Believe me the states caught on to that in a hurry pulling a container was like putting a big bullseye on your truck. In Chicago they went as far as taking down the fences between the rail yard and loading warehouse because the city would sit on the street and weigh the containers going out on driveway and into another drive a 100 feet away!
Sea-Story: My uncle was a longshoreman on the Brooklyn waterfront in the 50's. One night, my parents were playing cards at his house when they heard a large creaking noise and looked up at the ceiling. It was sagging down on them. Apparently, he, my uncle had stollen so much cargo and stuffed it in his attic, that there was a treat of the ceiling caving in. My uncle ran up to the attic and in order to lighten the load, he came down with several pairs of men's pajamas to give to my father. Unfortunately, none of the tops matched the bottoms. So, after years stealing from the docks, he had accumulated 100's and 100's of pounds of mismatched pajamas, shoes, unroasted coffee beans, and who knows what else nobody wanted.
@@wgowshipping Don't feel bad about being honest! 👏 I've long heard that one of the greatest aspects of containerisation, apart from the lower cost, is the resistance to tampering, which greatly increased the trustworthiness of shipping for shippers, customers and insurers. 👍 I've heard that most ports were effectively run by organized crime, and that a certain amount of "shrinkage" was to be expected as each vessel was unloaded, with everyone at each level being on the take to some degree.🤦♂️
Not for the inhabitants of Viet Nam! They still struggle with some aftereffects of munitions, agent orange, genetically modified offspring, but hey, you are likely an American.
Wars often drive significant technological development. I think canned food was developed by the french army. Toothpase tubes, aerosol cans, radar and nuclear power were developed, or pushed into reality faster by war, or the threat of wars.
Sal, Excellent video. The same holds true for tankers. When I startred working in the mid-70s there were still T2's doing business. At the same time VLCCs were being upstaged by ULCCs. The same kind of growth happened with LNG ships. Ocean transport is still the most economical way to move goods. Msybe I should have said water instead of ocean. Larger is always better. Professor Harry Benford dedicated much of his career and was a pioneer when it came to the economics of ship design. I was surprised you didn't mention Sealand's SL7's. They were a huge instrument in the growth of container ship size. Bob
Very Informative. When you state 20,000 TEUs, can the ship actually carry that many loaded? Or is there an allowance for a percentage of empties? How does the empty return system work? Is it similar to pop bottles? Who actually owns the container? Is there demurrage? Are vessels required to load empties? How do empties get on to the free market t be sold for other purposes? A session on the container situation would be very informative.
Nick, I have some back issues, all the way to September last year, that document the entire container supply chain issue. Here is one fo the most recent. ruclips.net/video/xnDh4BsCDVk/видео.html
They can carry fully loaded boxes to that capacity. The containers use to be almost entirely owned by the shipping lines. But today, it is lessors that lease the boxes and charge fees for late returns or pickups. ruclips.net/video/GX2F1-0TZyg/видео.html
Sal has pointed out a few times that there are two types of containers, the seacans which are referenced here, and the intermodal cans which is what you see everywhere on the road. The seacans will need to go back onto the ships and these are alliance specific usually. You shouldn't see a Maersk box on a Evergreen ship usually. With the problems we're having with logistics I'm sure that's breaking down.
@@wgowshipping I should have been more specific. If I want to ship a truck load or more to Europe, who do I contact? Do I arrange for a shipping owner to deliver one of their empty containers to my dock so that I can load it myself? Then what happens? Is there a fee for shipment and another for demurrage? Who arranges for the empties to be returned for future use where loads to and from a site are unbalanced? I see many containers with competitors logos on different ships. How does the third party container owner ever manage to keep track of the container to collect rent and prevent loss into the alternative use world? I suspect many containers going to out of the way places never make it back into the system.
Comment #1: My late father grew up near the Port of Baltimore docks during the 40’s and 50’s. He used to refer to stuff that “fell off the ship”. I think that happened a lot. 😉
It’s a line in many of those old movies. Always means something stolen. Even saw something using that on Larry David’s “Curb You Enthusiasm.” The character sold rugs.
Ultimately the growth of the industry could continue BUT harbours would have to increase their depth, length and craneage AND insurers would have to find the insurance profitable.
$5.82 to $.16 a ton - incredible story! Q1 - looking at original containers were they originally used on trucks or freight trains? Q2 - Given the amount of investment to improve port infrastructure, do you see a MV larger then mega max EEE? Or have we gone a “lego” to far?
@@jmonsted - Thanks. Tend to agree although I think most USA ports can’t be expanded further due to land side constraints. The Port of Savannah’s is really growing. The Port of Long Beach surprised me with how well it’s new terminal is working. I expect to see ports on Mexico Pacific coast improved and tied into improved rail infrastructure or new built and Dominican Republic port expansions to serve as transshipment port for smaller ships serving USA
@@williamlloyd3769 I would wish for them to build a new, much larger and much better connected, container terminal that isn't right in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the country. Sending all of those trucks through LA traffic is nuts. Either that or use the space to load up trains that shuttle containers into the country immediately and sort them out somewhere away from the expensive waterfront.
@@jmonsted Used to be stationed at Naval Station Long Beach on USS Hollister in late 1970s. Visited port area on December 2021 and it is changed beyond all recognition.
@@williamlloyd3769 China literally took a bunch of small islands offshore and landfilled them into Port of Shanghai. Given state of US economy/politics, I could only imagining that happening in Texas, and only when they want to one-up California.
A truck driver with an idea?!?! 💡 Yeah, we actually have quite a bit of time to sit and think 🚛📦🤔 Especially in those “hurry up and wait” situations.👍🤔 But the figures you quoted, and the evolution of container shipping is amazing! If I was working by myself, Driving OTR. I don’t think I could empty one of those monsters in an entire career! It would be tough!
NEXT: An UBER driver executes his idea of supporting the ocean shipping lines with mid-atmospheric swarm of electric UAVs that carry billions of ultra small lightweight boxes around planet earth.
In the Virgin Islands, we get everything from container ships …. Funny, from the Lehmann Brothers movie, in the early 1800s, when the great, great grandfather was delivering cotton by horse drawn cart from the South’s growers to a New York city market, he figured that there was a much more profitable way to sell cotton. He saw volume transportation of the product. Also, consolidation of the delivery lines to his company. Similar economic incentives to sell the same thing, cotton.
Nice vid on evolution of container ships. What ultimately this vid speaks to is the outsourcing of goods offshore. At the end of the day, the US has to incentivize onshore manufacturing and reduce it's dependency on imports.
I wonder, as you kind of touched on near the end of the video, if the ships size will have to conform to the ports that will take them? Right now it seems ports are scrambling to make ports fit the bigger ships (that are popular for reduced shipping costs) but even if the ports can load and unload them they cannot distribute the containers fast enough to keep up. So there is the big backlog of ships waiting to unload. (what does that do to shipping costs? Is there a tipping point on cost, where bigger ships lower price per container is mitigated by the time waiting to get unloaded?) Right now it seems the ships are calling the shots but will that dynamic change to where the ports will call the tune? It appears we may be in a shake out of the container shipping system. Didn't we go through something similar with tankers back in the 1970s? But I believe you said, in a previous video, that was due to the trouble in the middle east and the Suez Canal problems. Here's and idea about comments in the Bilge Pumps podcast you did with Alex and Drach about the legality of blockades. If a county wants to blockade another, use an excuse for safety. You are blockcading that country because there is some biological contagion (that maybe you made up) that you do not want to get out into the world. Just sell it to the press and you can get away with any blockade you want. (See I have learned from the cities, states and nations during the rights debacle of the last two years.)
these massive container ships actually only make sea shipping cheaper and some ports cheaper once on land then require more shipping to get to end point than docking at smaller closer ports to the end point , so technically they are more fuel efficient per tonne shifted but overall these methods of max container movement uses more fuel than smaller ships for a large part of there cargo .its also very easy to clog the system with these bigger ships than with smaller by shear wait of volume and it takes more effort and time to clear them
I thought the reason for overseas manufacturing was to eliminate taxation in the home state? The CNC type control of mail and packaging is gradually being applied to road and rail, in which bar codes and self-propelled Robots do the handling. Next step comes to completing Electrified rail wagons and switch yards for full Transport Containerisation? Ie in one word, Amazon.
This was an absolutely fantastic explanation of this industry. I am a new subscriber to your channel and heretofore never interested in this subject. Your style and content makes this subject informative and enjoyable. Bravo!!
The grams of CO2 released per tonne of cargo transported per kilometer for the the Maersk EEE series versus other forms of transport is very impressive. Air freight : 560 Truck : 47 Rail : 18 Maersk EEE : 3
@@steveholton4130 Well, mostly it's the small pickup trucks that will get up around 1000 to 1500 pounds depending on how they are loaded... Cars? Only craziness occasionally on RUclips shows dangerously overloaded cars. But, I'm just guessing the range for these vehicles. 4 large passengers and luggage is about 1000 pounds, eh.
But if you have to truck that ton of cargo several hunderd miles, if not thousands, because the EEE can't get into a port closer to the destination would need to be considered for the over all cost. It might make for pretty numbers in Europe, not so much in the USA or Russia.
This brings up the question of how a captain or pilot gets qualified to navigate these huge ships. Academies and others have simulators but do they have programs like the airlines to keep crew qualified in what must be a lot of navaids? Would be interesting to see one and the problems navigated.
If Antwerp or Rotterdam or Hamburg, are able to handle and turnaround a ULCvs then why wouldn't a US port be able? You have to adept your logistical chain, adept and invest... A specially in hinterland infrastructure.
There is clearly something that US ports do wrong. Not sure what it is, but European ports seem to run faster and more efferently. But I have no idea what the difference is
An amazing history of container ships. It's mind boggling when you think about it. And like you said Sal, where does it end. It is scary that only a few carriers own the market tho.
Well done! Another thing that got going because of the US military. The internet is the best though! I'm surprised those ships can withstand very rough seas.
Great video,I really enjoyed the historical part and think it would make a great weekly/bi weekly segment or video. I think it would broaden your audience and give your core crew something to look forward to and check in even when shipping isn't in the headlines.....anyway just a thought.
but why has the price of shipping a container gone from 1200 approx two years ago to almost 20 k this year if more containers can be moved at one time?
Great video. Thank you. Would interested to see a video on the corresponding development of the systems and software programs that enable this growth in size. Each container has to be placed in a specific place for efficiency.
Comment #3 (and last one): I know it depends on the contract specifications, but is a new container ship normally delivered with a full shipset of boxes? Have to ask because the visual is so striking when they all match.
It would seem to a non-engineer such as myself, that we are quickly reaching a point where larger ships would no longer be able to maintain their structural integrity and collapse under their own weight.
The practical limit will probably be the height of a stack or other infrastructure in the harbor channels and land-side of the port. As for stacking on ship, the bottom container must be designed to hold the weight of all of those above and at some point the amount of steel in the can makes it non-economical to build and use. The extra steel eats into useful payload. (ship, trucks, and train car capacities must be considered.) Each new generation of ship has come with stronger cans, the stacking strength is painted on the end next to other info like empty weight, max floor load, max gross weight, and serial number.
I have some PR photos here somewhere showing a Sikorsky type helo unloading containers from the CML (Container Marine Lines) retrofit container ship Container Dispatcher in the port of Felixstowe. This was the mid to late 60's and the demos and testing were taking extreme directions. CML eventually became American Export Lines' entree into containerization and started their purpose built program of the 1969 Bath built 'Sea Witch' class containerships, three of which remain as RRF crane ships. Those were the days ...
Comment #2: I find it curious that McLean ended up proving “proof of concept” in the midst of a wartime logistics crisis. In today’s DoD environment, that would only be allowed in limited circumstances.
Wow, fantastic teaching skills. I look out my back window at a shipping terminal. This episode gave me a new angle and ability to educate, or at least discuss with, others about the activities there. I recommend this channel weekly to others.
Thank you Sal for the detailed explanation. On another note, how about the Fighting Camels baseball team? They recently broke/tied several NCAA baseball records with their defeat of Presbyterian College 36-4!!
You mentioned briefly the influence/power of unions. In Charleston, SC the new, and would be largest container terminal, the “Leatherman terminal,” has been finished for a year and hardly used. The unions have blocked its use in a fight over who will run the cranes. Last weekend there we 27 ships offshore waiting to unload in Charleston. Why should this be allowed to happen in this time of shipping crisis?
I have talked about this on a few past episodes. The ILA has a dispute with SC PORTS on the weekend operations. This should have been worked out a while ago.
Do they still have to unload each container separately? Trains seem to be able to stack 2 high. Seems they could unload 2x1 directly to rail and cut offload time. Bigger crane.
So, can these super duper huge ships weather a prolonged downturn in trade, due to say a recession, depression and/or a war with China? They certainly are economically efficient, but are they economically robust? Efficiently only beats resilience in stable times. They certainly are marvels of engineering nonetheless. Thanks for a very interesting show.
Interesting video. I was curious whether tankers have had a similar growth trend, and it seems like they haven't. The largest tanker was built in 1979, and most of the ultra large crude carriers have been converted to offshore storage, according to Wikipedia. Any ideas why tanker sizes have had a different trajectory than container ships?
What about container cruise ships? Think about it, each “suite” a container connected to “hallways” and dinning, entertainment etc. Just a thought...preload passengers into their suites and drop them into their “slots” and so on? We’ll maybe not, what if they fell off!
There is some evidence that the Chinese mafia gangs are already doing something like that with containers filled with illegal Asian immigrants coming into the USA!
Great job Sal, this is interesting, but it’s time for new breakthrough with the ability to quickly breakdown and pre-stage mini flats or containers for break out for interior shipping by barge or truck. This is why just “cheap manufacturing” will give way to smart manufacturing and more multi-product shipping
In 1985 I had the opportunity to work at Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin where we built I think it was5 container ships upon the Great Lakes they were sailed out the Saint Lawrence Seaway and I never heard of them again but that was over thirty years ago and since then the ships have grown in size
Probably didn't last long, unless the military took them. Seawaymax is: Tonnage 28,500 DWT Length 740 ft (225.6 m) Beam 78 ft (23.8 m) Height 116.5 ft (35.5 m) Draft 26.51 ft (8.1 m) Cut & paste so I look intelligent!
My understanding is a TEU is a 20' container but most used now are now 40' so a ships rated for 20,000 TEU would only carry 10,000 40' foot containers. I think that is right but not sure.
👍🏼 Our nation, for numerous reasons, neglected most freight infrastructure, particularly its ports, transfer and warehousing. And it's now going to cost a lot to get back to modern, efficient standards. Thank goodness we're debating Daylight Saving Time.....! 🙄😉😅
One thing gets overlooked compared with the ships of 50yrs ago. Now the containers are themselves a huge cost, a burden for storage and handling at every stage when empty, a huge investment cutting away from the efficiency gain. Before a ship could be brought in and load only the cargo, dunnage, lashings, and deliver it, and go on free to the next port. Containers are overated.
You don't understand the efficiencies involved. One full container ship today presents a healthy percentage of total volume of shipping for the *year* for the older ports of yesteryear. The sheer volume these ships represent is mindboggling.
Excellent lecture, thanks. Will this be a open book exam? In the late 60s/early 70s I was impressed by the arrival of lighter carrying LASH vessels. They didn’t have a chance with the arrival of Max+ container ships.
I’m curious about how many times a container can be used as I see them all over the country being used as both homes and storage units. Do they have a life? Does the stress of loading and transporting them limit the times they can make a passage?
When containers are built they are inspected and must comply with international maritime industry standards. The longevity of a container is based on the quality of the manufacture, its trade lane, as well as its maintenance routine. Generally speaking a container should last about 10/12 years or so before needing replacement.When they are no longer useful they are sold by their shipping company owners/Lessors to brokers for resale.
I have always wondered how they deal with a mix of 45ft cans and high cubes(9.5ft vs 8.5 ft) in the design and operations. Along with the accuracy of using TEU as a measure. Is a 45ft slot counted as 2 TEU or 2.25 TEU, are all TEU counted at 8.5h? With approx 17+ high stacking its a difference of two full layers. I can see the match between two low 20s and a low 40, but I see more 45s on local trucks and trains coming from the port, and high cubes were also a large fraction of cans when I worked in distribution 20 years ago. Also back in the 1950/60s 40ft was a standard truck trailer, but 53ft and 28ft pups have been standards for a solid three decades now. I am curious if there is any notion of accommodating 50ft and 25ft cans, even just a bay or two on a ship to test popularity. I have seen a lot more 53ft and 48ft cans from Pacer Stacktrain in recent years, but not sure if they make it onto the water, maybe just WA-AK barges. (48ft seems to have been a common trailer size in some states and transitional time periods, but for cans not much gained over 45ft considering the incompatibility.)
It looks like there is a 20ft slot just ahead of the aft house on Ever Forward, plus 20x2 + 40 mixed in a stack. Also, if you look close at the stacks, you can see a mix of normal height and high cubes. I had heard somewhere that anything other than 20 or 40 is domestic only.
@@SteamCrane 45s are very common for China to Westcoast USA, the retail distribution centers I worked at seemed to get far more 45s than 40s and they came straight from the boat with chinese paperwork. I don't know about other routes. And 45s are far more common than 20s. In any case I already know that they handle all three sizes, I just want to know the details of how.
@@mytech6779 No idea about 45's. It would be interesting to see how the ships are arranged to carry 45's. I noticed that Ever Forward has a 20 ft slot. It would seem they would need to plan for a certain percentage of 45's at build time. The 45's have both 40 foot and 45 foot connector frames, like the 53's, thus can be intermixed. Could be they build some 45 ft slots, and can load 40's in them. Pictures show that Ever Forward has a mix of normal and high cubes. On trains, you frequently see a 53 on top of a 40 in a 40 ft well.
I'm pretty sure these peacetime ships have rustled some warship's ego regarding records. Before the Yamato, fanboy's show up, no we aint comparing gun sizes, & armaments. Even if we were, these ships would still out class her.
The largest containerships are in bigger than the largest supercarrier. The largest supercarrier, USS Gerald R Ford, is 1100 feet long (332m) and displaces about 100,000 tons. The largest containerships the Ever Glory, are 1312 feet long (400m) and can displace over 215,000 long tons. Yamamto isnt even in the game Length: 862 feet (263m) Weight: 65,030 tons. Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship Wonder of the Seas is 1,188 feet.
In 1961-62 I was a marine engineering trainee at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. We were building the LPD1 (Raleigh) which had a large crane built by a company in Washington state (Skagit Bridge and Iron?). Jack, their engineer was on site to help with the installation but he also traveled to New Jersey to work on the installation of a shipping container crane. He explained to me what a shipping container was and said the crane he was installing in Jersey was the first of a kind and invited me to the dedication. At the event a full crew of stevedores were on hand even though the crane was going to do all the work. Some sharp PR guy had the foresight to have white coveralls with the stevedore's union logo embrodried on the back given to all the crew. At the end of the day the TV reporters filming the event took note that all the stevedore coveralls had blemished backsides caused by them sitting around all day. Yes containers changed the world.
A 120 well container train double stacked is 240 containers. More if you add DPUs. That's 58 trains you have to move out of the port every time one of these ships comes into port. Assuming each train also brings in that many empty containers to go back.
Great report. There was a school of thought back in New York in the 1980s, a Port Authority employee formerly mariner, that McClean got his idea from how the US Army used 20 foot truck bodies as containers shipping to Alaska during WW2, based on this man's personal experience sailing then. In the eaerly 80s, after the energy crisis in the 70s, McClean started a company using around the world service, using slower, fuel efficient ships carrying up to I think 5500 TEU. Econ ships, they were called. By the mid-8-s they were bankrupt and tied to docks in NYC. This is a small world - you mentioned one Masrsk ship that was sold to the US Military and just sent to the breakers, the Shughart. I sailed on that ship as bosun in 2016, New Orleans to a shipyard in New York for her annual five year refit, and I knew then she had been a container vessel - converted to a ro-ro ship with stern ramps able to hold the vehicles of a full army division.
Two other advantages of containers over just palletized cargo was that containers didn't require huge warehouses on the dock. Each container was it's own warehouse.
This was another advantage the military liked during the Vietnam war.
Additionally containers are intermodal they can be loaded and discharged on ships trucks and trains in the same manor.
I never considered the warehouse aspect. For me two points were enough to sell me.
1: Make a standard container that all equipment could be designed around, and let the end user pack it somewhere other than the port. (They know the items best anyway, reducing breakage liability.)
2. Make the base model container as large as practical for the least capable mode of transport, (On-highway trucks in this case.) thus minimizing handling. Customers with smaller needs or dense cargo can use containers that are a nice fractional size of the base model.
Back in the wooden ship days they did the same with barrels, standard size, standard handling, and as large as a man could wrangle. They were also weather resistant.
Kegs(half the volume of a barrel.) and smaller casks were used for dense cargo like iron nails.
Crazy amazing stats on ship design👍🏻😎
Thanks professor.
You kind of made my point. That ship should not be in the Chesapeake Bay. It's to big
Great video as always
Good video never the history of containers, but as a truck driver have heard many horror stories of moving containers, including ports not allowing containers to be weighed before leaving the ports trapping the driver's with over weight boxes and no way to get them legal. Believe me the states caught on to that in a hurry pulling a container was like putting a big bullseye on your truck. In Chicago they went as far as taking down the fences between the rail yard and loading warehouse because the city would sit on the street and weigh the containers going out on driveway and into another drive a 100 feet away!
Sea-Story: My uncle was a longshoreman on the Brooklyn waterfront in the 50's. One night, my parents were playing cards at his house when they heard a large creaking noise and looked up at the ceiling. It was sagging down on them. Apparently, he, my uncle had stollen so much cargo and stuffed it in his attic, that there was a treat of the ceiling caving in. My uncle ran up to the attic and in order to lighten the load, he came down with several pairs of men's pajamas to give to my father. Unfortunately, none of the tops matched the bottoms. So, after years stealing from the docks, he had accumulated 100's and 100's of pounds of mismatched pajamas, shoes, unroasted coffee beans, and who knows what else nobody wanted.
That...is a great story. I felt a little bad mentioning this aspect of cargo handling, but it was so true.
@@wgowshipping Don't feel bad about being honest! 👏
I've long heard that one of the greatest aspects of containerisation, apart from the lower cost, is the resistance to tampering, which greatly increased the trustworthiness of shipping for shippers, customers and insurers. 👍
I've heard that most ports were effectively run by organized crime, and that a certain amount of "shrinkage" was to be expected as each vessel was unloaded, with everyone at each level being on the take to some degree.🤦♂️
Amazing! Who knew the Viet Nam war actually had a positive side effect.
Not for the inhabitants of Viet Nam! They still struggle with some aftereffects of munitions, agent orange, genetically modified offspring, but hey, you are likely an American.
Wars often drive significant technological development. I think canned food was developed by the french army. Toothpase tubes, aerosol cans, radar and nuclear power were developed, or pushed into reality faster by war, or the threat of wars.
Wow. You have explained the progression excellently.
Thanks.
Sal,
Excellent video. The same holds true for tankers. When I startred working in the mid-70s there were still T2's doing business. At the same time VLCCs were being upstaged by ULCCs. The same kind of growth happened with LNG ships.
Ocean transport is still the most economical way to move goods. Msybe I should have said water instead of ocean. Larger is always better. Professor Harry Benford dedicated much of his career and was a pioneer when it came to the economics of ship design.
I was surprised you didn't mention Sealand's SL7's. They were a huge instrument in the growth of container ship size.
Bob
Bob
I wanted to discuss the SL7 and Econoships. I think I am going to do some history videos on the companies and specific ships.
Super Interesting , love the look back at the History and changes that occured , simply mind boggling! ;-)
As always.... FANTASTIC! Thank you!
Very Informative.
When you state 20,000 TEUs, can the ship actually carry that many loaded? Or is there an allowance for a percentage of empties?
How does the empty return system work? Is it similar to pop bottles? Who actually owns the container? Is there demurrage? Are vessels required to load empties? How do empties get on to the free market t be sold for other purposes? A session on the container situation would be very informative.
Nick,
I have some back issues, all the way to September last year, that document the entire container supply chain issue.
Here is one fo the most recent.
ruclips.net/video/xnDh4BsCDVk/видео.html
They can carry fully loaded boxes to that capacity. The containers use to be almost entirely owned by the shipping lines. But today, it is lessors that lease the boxes and charge fees for late returns or pickups.
ruclips.net/video/GX2F1-0TZyg/видео.html
Sal has pointed out a few times that there are two types of containers, the seacans which are referenced here, and the intermodal cans which is what you see everywhere on the road. The seacans will need to go back onto the ships and these are alliance specific usually. You shouldn't see a Maersk box on a Evergreen ship usually. With the problems we're having with logistics I'm sure that's breaking down.
@@wgowshipping I should have been more specific. If I want to ship a truck load or more to Europe, who do I contact? Do I arrange for a shipping owner to deliver one of their empty containers to my dock so that I can load it myself? Then what happens? Is there a fee for shipment and another for demurrage? Who arranges for the empties to be returned for future use where loads to and from a site are unbalanced? I see many containers with competitors logos on different ships. How does the third party container owner ever manage to keep track of the container to collect rent and prevent loss into the alternative use world? I suspect many containers going to out of the way places never make it back into the system.
Comment #1: My late father grew up near the Port of Baltimore docks during the 40’s and 50’s. He used to refer to stuff that “fell off the ship”. I think that happened a lot. 😉
It’s a line in many of those old movies. Always means something stolen. Even saw something using that on Larry David’s “Curb You Enthusiasm.” The character sold rugs.
Ultimately the growth of the industry could continue BUT harbours would have to increase their depth, length and craneage AND insurers would have to find the insurance profitable.
High winds have blown the water out of the bay. Tide is almost down two feet.
$5.82 to $.16 a ton - incredible story!
Q1 - looking at original containers were they originally used on trucks or freight trains?
Q2 - Given the amount of investment to improve port infrastructure, do you see a MV larger then mega max EEE? Or have we gone a “lego” to far?
Q1: They were exclusively on trucks to begin with. He basically just detached the box from the trailer.
Q2: They've shown no signs of stopping yet.
@@jmonsted - Thanks. Tend to agree although I think most USA ports can’t be expanded further due to land side constraints. The Port of Savannah’s is really growing. The Port of Long Beach surprised me with how well it’s new terminal is working. I expect to see ports on Mexico Pacific coast improved and tied into improved rail infrastructure or new built and Dominican Republic port expansions to serve as transshipment port for smaller ships serving USA
@@williamlloyd3769 I would wish for them to build a new, much larger and much better connected, container terminal that isn't right in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the country. Sending all of those trucks through LA traffic is nuts. Either that or use the space to load up trains that shuttle containers into the country immediately and sort them out somewhere away from the expensive waterfront.
@@jmonsted Used to be stationed at Naval Station Long Beach on USS Hollister in late 1970s. Visited port area on December 2021 and it is changed beyond all recognition.
@@williamlloyd3769 China literally took a bunch of small islands offshore and landfilled them into Port of Shanghai. Given state of US economy/politics, I could only imagining that happening in Texas, and only when they want to one-up California.
Very well done explanation. I suddenly realized what a clear speaking voice you have.
(14:30 - 14:40)
Descriptively phenomenal:
"By scale, 24x container volume shipped now than by end of WWII."
A truck driver with an idea?!?! 💡
Yeah, we actually have quite a bit of time to sit and think 🚛📦🤔
Especially in those “hurry up and wait” situations.👍🤔
But the figures you quoted, and the evolution of container shipping is amazing!
If I was working by myself,
Driving OTR.
I don’t think I could empty one of those monsters in an entire career!
It would be tough!
When you are driving along in the middle of the night there is not much to do but think about things, and dodge the occasional deer.
NEXT:
An UBER driver executes his idea of supporting the ocean shipping lines with mid-atmospheric swarm of electric UAVs that carry billions of ultra small lightweight boxes around planet earth.
In the Virgin Islands, we get everything from container ships …. Funny, from the Lehmann Brothers movie, in the early 1800s, when the great, great grandfather was delivering cotton by horse drawn cart from the South’s growers to a New York city market, he figured that there was a much more profitable way to sell cotton. He saw volume transportation of the product. Also, consolidation of the delivery lines to his company. Similar economic incentives to sell the same thing, cotton.
thank you for the history lesson
Glad you enjoyed it
Nice vid on evolution of container ships. What ultimately this vid speaks to is the outsourcing of goods offshore. At the end of the day, the US has to incentivize onshore manufacturing and reduce it's dependency on imports.
Good Video
Glad you enjoyed
The Ideal X probably had a crew twice the size of the largest container ships today.
Absolutely correct. Over 50 versus about 25.
I wonder, as you kind of touched on near the end of the video, if the ships size will have to conform to the ports that will take them?
Right now it seems ports are scrambling to make ports fit the bigger ships (that are popular for reduced shipping costs) but even if the ports can load and unload them they cannot distribute the containers fast enough to keep up. So there is the big backlog of ships waiting to unload. (what does that do to shipping costs? Is there a tipping point on cost, where bigger ships lower price per container is mitigated by the time waiting to get unloaded?)
Right now it seems the ships are calling the shots but will that dynamic change to where the ports will call the tune? It appears we may be in a shake out of the container shipping system. Didn't we go through something similar with tankers back in the 1970s? But I believe you said, in a previous video, that was due to the trouble in the middle east and the Suez Canal problems.
Here's and idea about comments in the Bilge Pumps podcast you did with Alex and Drach about the legality of blockades. If a county wants to blockade another, use an excuse for safety. You are blockcading that country because there is some biological contagion (that maybe you made up) that you do not want to get out into the world. Just sell it to the press and you can get away with any blockade you want. (See I have learned from the cities, states and nations during the rights debacle of the last two years.)
Ok, what your saying is Ever Ace is next to get stuck?
Rumor has it that driver is still waiting to unload.
Absolutely brilliant thank you as a new subscriber to your channel I am learning alot about this industry.
these massive container ships actually only make sea shipping cheaper and some ports cheaper once on land then require more shipping to get to end point than docking at smaller closer ports to the end point , so technically they are more fuel efficient per tonne shifted but overall these methods of max container movement uses more fuel than smaller ships for a large part of there cargo .its also very easy to clog the system with these bigger ships than with smaller by shear wait of volume and it takes more effort and time to clear them
I thought the reason for overseas manufacturing was to eliminate taxation in the home state?
The CNC type control of mail and packaging is gradually being applied to road and rail, in which bar codes and self-propelled Robots do the handling. Next step comes to completing Electrified rail wagons and switch yards for full Transport Containerisation?
Ie in one word, Amazon.
This was an absolutely fantastic explanation of this industry. I am a new subscriber to your channel and heretofore never interested in this subject. Your style and content makes this subject informative and enjoyable. Bravo!!
The grams of CO2 released per tonne of cargo transported per kilometer for the the Maersk EEE series versus other forms of transport is very impressive.
Air freight : 560
Truck : 47
Rail : 18
Maersk EEE : 3
So, I guess a gasoline car would be about 100 to 200 maybe.
@@amascia8327 Show me a gasoline CAR that can transport a ton of cargo one kilometer and I'll show you a HUMVEE want 'a bee!
@@steveholton4130 Well, mostly it's the small pickup trucks that will get up around 1000 to 1500 pounds depending on how they are loaded... Cars? Only craziness occasionally on RUclips shows dangerously overloaded cars. But, I'm just guessing the range for these vehicles. 4 large passengers and luggage is about 1000 pounds, eh.
But if you have to truck that ton of cargo several hunderd miles, if not thousands, because the EEE can't get into a port closer to the destination would need to be considered for the over all cost. It might make for pretty numbers in Europe, not so much in the USA or Russia.
How long does it take to load and unload 24,000 containers ?
This brings up the question of how a captain or pilot gets qualified to navigate these huge ships. Academies and others have simulators but do they have programs like the airlines to keep crew qualified in what must be a lot of navaids? Would be interesting to see one and the problems navigated.
If Antwerp or Rotterdam or Hamburg, are able to handle and turnaround a ULCvs then why wouldn't a US port be able? You have to adept your logistical chain, adept and invest... A specially in hinterland infrastructure.
Only 15% of US trade is international.
There is clearly something that US ports do wrong. Not sure what it is, but European ports seem to run faster and more efferently. But I have no idea what the difference is
An amazing history of container ships. It's mind boggling when you think about it. And like you said Sal, where does it end. It is scary that only a few carriers own the market tho.
Good stuff my man. Liked and subbed.
Very well presented. Thank you.
Well done! Another thing that got going because of the US military. The internet is the best though! I'm surprised those ships can withstand very rough seas.
mind blowing presentation,
Great video,I really enjoyed the historical part and think it would make a great weekly/bi weekly segment or video. I think it would broaden your audience and give your core crew something to look forward to and check in even when shipping isn't in the headlines.....anyway just a thought.
but why has the price of shipping a container gone from 1200 approx two years ago to almost 20 k this year if more containers can be moved at one time?
ruclips.net/video/QzkPgMsSkQY/видео.html
What a great information packed episode, well done sal.!!
Great video. Thank you. Would interested to see a video on the corresponding development of the systems and software programs that enable this growth in size. Each container has to be placed in a specific place for efficiency.
Comment #3 (and last one): I know it depends on the contract specifications, but is a new container ship normally delivered with a full shipset of boxes? Have to ask because the visual is so striking when they all match.
No. Those are usually outfitted for maiden voyages.
Box really is a great book.
I'm older than container ships! :(
Me too! Unfortunately 😁
Great report on the evolving shipping supplies & protocol’s. 👍
Do you think this could of been delibrate?
Doubtful as there is a pilot onboard and the ship is not doing anything as she is outside the channel.
It would seem to a non-engineer such as myself, that we are quickly reaching a point where larger ships would no longer be able to maintain their structural integrity and collapse under their own weight.
Beauty of steel, and design.
Edmund Fitzgerald did that with the help of a Winter gale.
The practical limit will probably be the height of a stack or other infrastructure in the harbor channels and land-side of the port. As for stacking on ship, the bottom container must be designed to hold the weight of all of those above and at some point the amount of steel in the can makes it non-economical to build and use. The extra steel eats into useful payload. (ship, trucks, and train car capacities must be considered.)
Each new generation of ship has come with stronger cans, the stacking strength is painted on the end next to other info like empty weight, max floor load, max gross weight, and serial number.
10,000-20,000 containers. Wow; I had no idea. That's a huge number. Good summary video, Sal.
I have some PR photos here somewhere showing a Sikorsky type helo unloading containers from the CML (Container Marine Lines) retrofit container ship Container Dispatcher in the port of Felixstowe. This was the mid to late 60's and the demos and testing were taking extreme directions. CML eventually became American Export Lines' entree into containerization and started their purpose built program of the 1969 Bath built 'Sea Witch' class containerships, three of which remain as RRF crane ships. Those were the days ...
Comment #2: I find it curious that McLean ended up proving “proof of concept” in the midst of a wartime logistics crisis. In today’s DoD environment, that would only be allowed in limited circumstances.
Wow, fantastic teaching skills. I look out my back window at a shipping terminal. This episode gave me a new angle and ability to educate, or at least discuss with, others about the activities there. I recommend this channel weekly to others.
When tuck tuck drivers captain the largest ships on earth. HA HA HA.
Thank you.
Thank you Sal for the detailed explanation. On another note, how about the Fighting Camels baseball team? They recently broke/tied several NCAA baseball records with their defeat of Presbyterian College 36-4!!
You mentioned briefly the influence/power of unions. In Charleston, SC the new, and would be largest container terminal, the “Leatherman terminal,” has been finished for a year and hardly used. The unions have blocked its use in a fight over who will run the cranes. Last weekend there we 27 ships offshore waiting to unload in Charleston. Why should this be allowed to happen in this time of shipping crisis?
I have talked about this on a few past episodes. The ILA has a dispute with SC PORTS on the weekend operations. This should have been worked out a while ago.
SC is one of those "right to work" states that unions hate as they limit union's power.
Do they still have to unload each container separately? Trains seem to be able to stack 2 high. Seems they could unload 2x1 directly to rail and cut offload time. Bigger crane.
It depends on the shoreside crane & the weight of the containers.
I understand containers are not stressed to support a second container hanging underneath, the corners are designed for compression, not tension.
So, can these super duper huge ships weather a prolonged downturn in trade, due to say a recession, depression and/or a war with China? They certainly are economically efficient, but are they economically robust? Efficiently only beats resilience in stable times.
They certainly are marvels of engineering nonetheless. Thanks for a very interesting show.
I think thats why they are getting bigger, eliminating several ships for one massive one.
Is there an ever free or ever stuck?
No on both.
Interesting video. I was curious whether tankers have had a similar growth trend, and it seems like they haven't. The largest tanker was built in 1979, and most of the ultra large crude carriers have been converted to offshore storage, according to Wikipedia. Any ideas why tanker sizes have had a different trajectory than container ships?
If you scroll down in comments, someone who appear to work in the industry commented same thing happened to tankers
@Matt When double hull regulations became the norm within US controlled waterways. Exxon Valdez.
@@ltmundy1164 Ah, that makes sense. Thanks.
What about container cruise ships? Think about it, each “suite” a container connected to “hallways” and dinning, entertainment etc. Just a thought...preload passengers into their suites and drop them into their “slots” and so on? We’ll maybe not, what if they fell off!
There is some evidence that the Chinese mafia gangs are already doing something like that with containers filled with illegal Asian immigrants coming into the USA!
Modern mega cruise ships are built that way, each stateroom is a finished box that they hoist aboard and plumb it up.
Great job Sal, this is interesting, but it’s time for new breakthrough with the ability to quickly breakdown and pre-stage mini flats or containers for break out for interior shipping by barge or truck. This is why just “cheap manufacturing” will give way to smart manufacturing and more multi-product shipping
Already exists. Bicon, Tricon, Quadcon. Just not widely used outside the US military.
In 1985 I had the opportunity to work at Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin where we built I think it was5 container ships upon the Great Lakes they were sailed out the Saint Lawrence Seaway and I never heard of them again but that was over thirty years ago and since then the ships have grown in size
Probably didn't last long, unless the military took them. Seawaymax is:
Tonnage 28,500 DWT
Length 740 ft (225.6 m)
Beam 78 ft (23.8 m)
Height 116.5 ft (35.5 m)
Draft 26.51 ft (8.1 m)
Cut & paste so I look intelligent!
20,000 containers???? can that be right?
20,000 TEUs on Ever Given and 24,000 TEUs on Ever Ace.
My understanding is a TEU is a 20' container but most used now are now 40' so a ships rated for 20,000 TEU would only carry 10,000 40' foot containers. I think that is right but not sure.
👍🏼 Our nation, for numerous reasons, neglected most freight infrastructure, particularly its ports, transfer and warehousing. And it's now going to cost a lot to get back to modern, efficient standards. Thank goodness we're debating Daylight Saving Time.....! 🙄😉😅
Should point out that the numbers are 20-foot equivalent, not the 40 foot long containers that are the bulk of what's carried.
I remember in the Army in the early 60's they referred to CONEX containers and I had no idea what they were talking about.
It seems like I recall seeing the 'IdealX' layed up at the Witte graveyard in Arthur Kill on Staten Island being scrapped, maybe in the mid-eighties?
Hey Al What’s the status on the Chinese canal just going north of the Panama Canal I haven’t heard anymore about it
To the EverStuck
Thanks, Sal. Was looking forward to this. 👌
Top work Sal!
One thing gets overlooked compared with the ships of 50yrs ago. Now the containers are themselves a huge cost, a burden for storage and handling at every stage when empty, a huge investment cutting away from the efficiency gain. Before a ship could be brought in and load only the cargo, dunnage, lashings, and deliver it, and go on free to the next port. Containers are overated.
You don't understand the efficiencies involved. One full container ship today presents a healthy percentage of total volume of shipping for the *year* for the older ports of yesteryear. The sheer volume these ships represent is mindboggling.
Sal
Excellent lecture, thanks. Will this be a open book exam? In the late 60s/early 70s I was impressed by the arrival of lighter carrying LASH vessels. They didn’t have a chance with the arrival of Max+ container ships.
I am fascinated by LASH vessels!
Thank you.
I’m curious about how many times a container can be used as I see them all over the country being used as both homes and storage units. Do they have a life? Does the stress of loading and transporting them limit the times they can make a passage?
When containers are built they are inspected and must comply with international maritime industry standards. The longevity of a container is based on the quality of the manufacture, its trade lane, as well as its maintenance routine. Generally speaking a container should last about 10/12 years or so before needing replacement.When they are no longer useful they are sold by their shipping company owners/Lessors to brokers for resale.
I have always wondered how they deal with a mix of 45ft cans and high cubes(9.5ft vs 8.5 ft) in the design and operations. Along with the accuracy of using TEU as a measure. Is a 45ft slot counted as 2 TEU or 2.25 TEU, are all TEU counted at 8.5h? With approx 17+ high stacking its a difference of two full layers.
I can see the match between two low 20s and a low 40, but I see more 45s on local trucks and trains coming from the port, and high cubes were also a large fraction of cans when I worked in distribution 20 years ago.
Also back in the 1950/60s 40ft was a standard truck trailer, but 53ft and 28ft pups have been standards for a solid three decades now. I am curious if there is any notion of accommodating 50ft and 25ft cans, even just a bay or two on a ship to test popularity.
I have seen a lot more 53ft and 48ft cans from Pacer Stacktrain in recent years, but not sure if they make it onto the water, maybe just WA-AK barges. (48ft seems to have been a common trailer size in some states and transitional time periods, but for cans not much gained over 45ft considering the incompatibility.)
It looks like there is a 20ft slot just ahead of the aft house on Ever Forward, plus 20x2 + 40 mixed in a stack. Also, if you look close at the stacks, you can see a mix of normal height and high cubes. I had heard somewhere that anything other than 20 or 40 is domestic only.
@@SteamCrane 45s are very common for China to Westcoast USA, the retail distribution centers I worked at seemed to get far more 45s than 40s and they came straight from the boat with chinese paperwork. I don't know about other routes.
And 45s are far more common than 20s.
In any case I already know that they handle all three sizes, I just want to know the details of how.
@@mytech6779 No idea about 45's. It would be interesting to see how the ships are arranged to carry 45's. I noticed that Ever Forward has a 20 ft slot. It would seem they would need to plan for a certain percentage of 45's at build time. The 45's have both 40 foot and 45 foot connector frames, like the 53's, thus can be intermixed. Could be they build some 45 ft slots, and can load 40's in them. Pictures show that Ever Forward has a mix of normal and high cubes. On trains, you frequently see a 53 on top of a 40 in a 40 ft well.
Great cont sal
I'm pretty sure these peacetime ships have rustled some warship's ego regarding records. Before the Yamato, fanboy's show up, no we aint comparing gun sizes, & armaments. Even if we were, these ships would still out class her.
Several current semisubmersible vessels would happily pick up the Yamato and transport her across the seas :)
@@jmonsted Yup, if she was not a reef.
The largest containerships are in bigger than the largest supercarrier. The largest supercarrier, USS Gerald R Ford, is 1100 feet long (332m) and displaces about 100,000 tons. The largest containerships the Ever Glory, are 1312 feet long (400m) and can displace over 215,000 long tons. Yamamto isnt even in the game Length: 862 feet (263m) Weight: 65,030 tons. Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship Wonder of the Seas is 1,188 feet.
@@Hotspur37 Damn. I knew ships where huge, but holly lord.
Whereas on the Great Lakes, the biggest is only 1013' 6" x 105', limited by lock dimensions. Only 30' draft though, limited by channel depths.