Moran Shipping Agency has given me a lot to think about regarding shipping, trade, technology, and the global economy. I had no idea that shipping via bodies of water was still used at the frequency and at the calibur that it is! Honestly, before our class trip, I suppose I took all of that for granted --how imports get here to the United States.
I assumed (because of how much faster they are) that we primarily used planes to ship cargo. For obvious reasons, planes cannot carry as much as a ship can. Even the Airbus A-380, which can carry over 500 passengers and several hundred thousand gallons of fuel--that could convert to 300 tons of weight (http://www.airbus.com/aircraftfamilies/passengeraircraft/a380family/, 2011), this still has no comparison with how much a ship can carry (at least 30 times this!). Not to mention, cargo shipped via air will undoubtedly be astronomically expensive, as it is cutting short the amount of time needed for arrival. Reason being, the exporter (or importer, depending on how their contract is outlined), is paying for the speed of the aircraft itself, but they are also paying for the expedited customs review, fuel costs, pilot costs, etc.
Slightly off-topic, but my mother used to be a flight attendant, and she said that the general cost of operating an aircraft is $20M. Judging from what was said last week, while very expensive to operate, a ship is not nearly $20M. Regardless, I am pleased to know that it is still very much in operation--for commercial uses just as much as military/naval. The fact that they are steamship, though, is also very good. I don't know if this makes the ships go any faster (I should have asked this last week!), but it definitely is more environmentally friendly than using primarily gas or coal. I am curious what combustive element they are using though? The rest of this blog is To Be Continued...
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