Diseconomies of Scale

[william the wie]

Benjamin Franklin class container ships are so big that they are effectively worthless. Five of these largest container ships ever were built and delivered before the problems were discovered. These include:

much deeper and longer harbors are needed.

More expensive cranes are needed to unload the containers.

More storage room is needed for the cargo of these ships

And there are many other shortcomings the most important of which is that the Panama canal expansion was designed and finalized prior to the building of these ships. Using the Panama Canal avoids two hotspots of piracy versus going across the Indian Ocean to Europe or vice versa: the straits of Malacca and either the Horn or West coast of Africa. Coming across the Pacific and through the canal to the Americas avoids the second worst mountain ranges in the world and gets to the 3rd and 4th best barge networks (Brazil and the US). This last part is what really confuses me. Panama canal expansion has been nearly continuous since it opened and when the idea of a Nicaraguan competitor was proposed again 8 years ago Panama got in gear on upgrades. It was kind of noticeable but it went unnoticed.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Benjamin Franklin class container ships are so big that they are effectively worthless. Five of these largest container ships ever were built and delivered before the problems were discovered. These include:

much deeper and longer harbors are needed.

More expensive cranes are needed to unload the containers.

More storage room is needed for the cargo of these ships

And there are many other shortcomings the most important of which is that the Panama canal expansion was designed and finalized prior to the building of these ships. Using the Panama Canal avoids two hotspots of piracy versus going across the Indian Ocean to Europe or vice versa: the straits of Malacca and either the Horn or West coast of Africa. Coming across the Pacific and through the canal to the Americas avoids the second worst mountain ranges in the world and gets to the 3rd and 4th best barge networks (Brazil and the US). This last part is what really confuses me. Panama canal expansion has been nearly continuous since it opened and when the idea of a Nicaraguan competitor was proposed again 8 years ago Panama got in gear on upgrades. It was kind of noticeable but it went unnoticed.

seems you were tricked
wiki:
The December 26, 2015 arrival at the Port of Los Angeles[4] marked the first time a ship of this size had been used in North America - previous routes for a ship this large were only from Asia to Northern Europe. A worldwide concern is that ports need to be able to accommodate a ship of this size when loading and unloading cargo.[3] Benjamin Franklin is about a third larger than the biggest container ships that typically visit the deep water ports of southern California.[5]

In regard to U.S. port infrastructure, Marc Bourdon, president of CMA CGM American operations, states that while some ports are ready

 

[william the wie]

When Bloomberg and Wiki disagree on business choose Bloomberg. If you can afford $25K for the terminal you can backtrack the use of these ships. I don't know if the Reuters terminal also allows that or not.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

When Bloomberg and Wiki disagree on business choose Bloomberg. If you can afford $25K for the terminal you can backtrack the use of these ships. I don't know if the Reuters terminal also allows that or not.

you can bet you don't build a ship like that and not know exactly where it can be used!!

 

[william the wie]

Actually they did.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Actually they did.

if so where is evidence? Seems like you were taken in by a journalists need to fill space and attract readers

 

[william the wie]

Actually it is the commodity rout in action. With less commodity trade there are knock on effects on total trade volume. While India will take up much of the slack from the Chinese crash landing there is going to be much less building to storm the five year plan and fewer ghost cities or abandoned factories in India compared to the mess that is China.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Actually it is the commodity rout in action. With less commodity trade there are knock on effects on total trade volume. While India will take up much of the slack from the Chinese crash landing there is going to be much less building to storm the five year plan and fewer ghost cities or abandoned factories in India compared to the mess that is China.

1) so there is no evidence that somebody built a Franklin ship for nothing. Honest mistake?

2) China did not build any ghost cities. A media myth to boost readership.