Neubarth
At the Ballpark July 30th
- Thread starter
- #21
To ship cargo from Shanghai, China to Long Beach, California takes about 72 gallons of bunker fuel per loaded 40 ton 40"x8'x8' ISO shipping container on a fully loaded large efficient ship.
That means 1.8 gallon per ton or 35.55 cubic foot of goods per gallon.
If oil gets to expensive these ships could easily run on nuclear as opposed to fossil fuel.
The average American waste far more fuel just driving to work every day than it takes to supply them with everything from China.
Ohh I agree the ships are efficient, but they do also cost money to buy and operate aside from fuel. There are other transportation costs. Loading, unloading, crew, etc.
economies of scale favor bigger vehicles moving freight. Trucks are less efficient than trains which are less efficient than ocean going freighters.
It takes a day to load and again to unload a container ship which may carry 600 semi loads across the Pacific in 7 days, and it only takes a 20 man crew. The ship may cost a LOT of money but it doesn't cost as much as 600 semi trucks. And it is more reliable and cheaper to maintain.
If they can offload the ship in Ensenada, Mexico as opposed to Long Beach/Los Angeles, they can save 70% on longshoreman's wages. Putting the loads into Mexican Trucks with Mexican drivers can save as much as fifty percent on transportation to destinations in the US and Mexico. Ships docking at the right docks can be very cost effective.