SavannahMann
Platinum Member
- Nov 16, 2016
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When reading that article I never got the impression anyone was making the claim that Florida already had more capacity, in any sense. I assumed they were happy and proud that by offering incentives to countries that are struggling to get cargoes unloaded once they arrive in the U.S., Florida was hoping to build capacity for the future and to do so while this opportunity exists.
I can't say I understand what's going on in Cali. The last I heard it was nearly gridlocked due to the inability to get cargos unloaded and moved off site from the ports. That's a problem with Stevedores AND too few long haul truckers.
It’s a lot of problems. Similar problems have nearly fifty ships stacked up outside of Georgia’s ports.
First. A lot more cargo is coming than was even five years ago. This means that you need infrastructure. That is the dock facilities. Cranes and cargo handling equipment. Jockey trucks to move the cargo around the port. Next you need trained people to run the equipment. With security requirements it’s harder to get people to train. Thank you Department of Homeland Insecurity.
Next. The workers are skilled labor. That means they are viewed with derision by most of the “good” people who think college is the key to success. So finding people who want to do this is hard.
Now. Best will in the world. With a trained crew of about 25 you can move 40 containers in an hour. Probably you are going to move less. But you try for 40 an hour.
Now. Simple math. You have 5,000 containers to unload and load. You put some on too. Empty containers and some lodes containers.
How long is it going to take you when one crew can do an average of 300 a day. And that “1” crew is really 50 people working in two shifts.
If you run five crews. You can do say. 1,500 a day. Maybe you get it to 1,800 a day. If you hit the goal with all five crews it is going to take Two and a half days. Minimum.
Now. How long is it going to take to unload all of those dozens of ships. More of which are coming in all the time?
Next. Getting the containers off the ports. That is tail and truckers. Here again. You unload and load the trains and trucks. They drop off and pick up containers.
The equipment to do all of this is expensive and again. You need trained operators. It takes years before the operators are reaching peak performance.
You also need truckers. And there is a shortage of them. And everyone has to be cleared by the Department of Homeland Insecurity.
So the people are hard to find and you need thousands of them every day.
The cranes. The cranes are expensive. And take people to maintain. A lot of mechanics with specific expertise. Trained people. Yes. Even more trained people.
Now you are starting to get an idea of how hard it is to unload a ship. The billions of dollars in concrete, cranes, lifts, trucks, and people that is needed to unload a ship.
An Aircraft Carrier has some 5,000 people to support 90 aircraft. A Port is similar. Thousands of people to move containers at a moderately sized port. Tens of thousands when you count truckers and every step along the way. Dispatchers. Cargo planners. CBP, Agriculture inspectors. The list goes on and on.
I don’t think Florida has a single port that can take one of these much less the cranes to work one of those ships.
I mean. I don’t think the harbors are deep enough or wide enough. The cranes aren’t tall enough or reach far enough.