Where are all the containers?

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Tom

Tom

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As we drive our freeways, I'm always wondering about the logistics of the countless containers I see on rail cars and on trucks. Recently I've been watching an Amazon Prime documentary series on the subject. It blows my mind to hear that one of the larger ships carries 18,000 containers, and that there are 38 million containers around the world, all of which are tracked.


Rotterdam, in the Nederlands, is one of the largest ports/container terminals in the world, but they've been superseded by a couple of terminals in China.
 
Tom, I live on Puget Sound across from Seattle and watch the container ship traveling to Seattle and Tacoma
Take a look at this website and look at all the marine traffic
https://www.marinetraffic.com
 
I'm always fascinated by the ship yards, freight trains, etc.  The Northern section of the Jersey turnpike is really cool, you have huge container operations on one side and airplanes taking off and landing on the other side.  Two weekends ago I was checking out the Boston container ship yard.  I get distracted and DW gets on me to watch where I'm going.  Out West I was watching the Seattle operations and DW was like "yeah, really cool".  I'm sure she was equally fascinated.  I like seeing the freight trains as well.
 
My wife ordered a new Volvo a few years ago.  We tracked the ship and knew when it docked in Halifax and then in NJ. 
 
Took a cruise to the Panama Canal last year and saw a couple of those extra gigantic container ships going through the new canal built special for them.  I'm amazed they don't tip over in the storms at sea.   
 
I believe containers fall overboard during some storms.  I've read that you can go as passenger on some of the ships.
 
Thanks Madjack. Interesting perspective on marine traffic. I use an app with similar views of air traffic when family flies in or leaves,
 
OBX said:
I believe containers fall overboard during some storms.
Click to expand...


And they're like an iceberg (mostly sub-surface). It always bothered me if/when we travelled up/down the coast at night, because they don't show up on radar.
 
Wow!

The web site "MadJack" references just blows my mind.
There is another view (presentation) in a Web page or somewhere (?), where 24 hrs of Air traffic around the world is represented by 'dots of light", starting slowly (12:01 AM) and then presenting nothing but a white screen of light (dots) by mid day. One can no longer distinguish the DOTS, then in later evening hours, the dots start to appear again.

These illustrations (web pages) move me to the words I have been exposed to in life.....
"I Know that I don't know!".
Thank you all...........
 
There was recently a great one hour TV show following a container ship traveling in the middle east from port to port until it finally ended up in Spain.  Those 18,000 containers on one ship are impressive but to know that a lot of them are individually monitored if they have special or dangerous cargo is also comforting.  All of the specially monitored containers are carried below and not topside and some are even kept pressurized for some reason or other.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if all these products were manufactured in the United States? 

Bill
 
Many years ago now, one of the guys in my Specialty Systems group at IBM was working on an improved tracking system for containers and rail cars. The cars and containers all have passive microwave tags that get read as they pass various points in freight docks/yards, rail sidings, switch points, etc. all over the world. It's a huge and fascinating market for computerized gear, networking equipment and servers, but it's also a cut-throat business using well known hardware & software technology and we could never come up with a breakthrough that would give us a market advantage, or at least a patentable technology to sell.  Finally gave up on our project to focus on more profitable areas.
 
Coincidentally, I recently watched a fictitious series based on a unionized container dockyard. They showed their computerized tracking system for containers while in port. Part of the plot involved longshoremen and their union boss making individual containers disappear from the computer and from the dockyard.
 
catblaster said:
I dont know where all the others are but one of them is in my yard full of "stuff".
Click to expand...

Local news a few months back had several being made into tiny homes.  A couple were even welded together to make a mega-tiny home.......lol

Bill
 
Mr Bojangles said:
There is another view (presentation) in a Web page or somewhere (?), where 24 hrs of Air traffic around the world is represented by 'dots of light", starting slowly (12:01 AM) and then presenting nothing but a white screen of light (dots) by mid day. One can no longer distinguish the DOTS, then in later evening hours, the dots start to appear again.
Click to expand...

Here ya go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1US_4uf4YE
 
[quote author=OBX]I believe containers fall overboard ...[/quote]


Check out the photos on this page (scroll down to see the photos).
 
Bill N said:
There was recently a great one hour TV show following a container ship traveling in the middle east from port to port until it finally ended up in Spain.  Those 18,000 containers on one ship are impressive but to know that a lot of them are individually monitored if they have special or dangerous cargo is also comforting.  All of the specially monitored containers are carried below and not topside and some are even kept pressurized for some reason or other.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if all these products were manufactured in the United States? 

Bill
Click to expand...
Was that the Emma Maersk? If so I saw that one too and was fascinated, it was a mighty tight fit through the Suez canal. The container port near Vancouver is huge yet by no means the largest, the majority of the goods coming into Canada from Asia pass through it. As Gary suggests, the logistics are staggering.
 
Bill N said:
Local news a few months back had several being made into tiny homes.  A couple were even welded together to make a mega-tiny home.......lol

Bill
Click to expand...


These are actually super common. You can stack them as well.  If you?re near a port a new one goes for about 5000 for the largest size and I believe it included transport but not unloading. Used can go for as low as 2000. I?ve looked into it a lot...they would make great off the grid living.


Edited to include the link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AHrCI9eSJGQ
 
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