Wal-Mart commissioned these ships to get all their goods and stuff from China. Each ship holds an incredible 15,000 containers on its 207 foot deck beam! A full crew amounts to just 13 people on a ship longer than a US Aircraft Carrier, which has a crew of 5,000. With its 207' beam, it's too big to fit through the Panama or Suez Canals; It is strictly trans-Pacific.
Cruise speed: 31 knots. The goods arrive 4 days before the typical container ship (18-20 knots) on a China-to-California run. 91% of Wal-Mart products are made in China. So this behemoth is hugely competitive, even when carrying perishable goods.The ship was built in five sections. The sections were floated together and then welded. It has 11 cargo crane rigs that can operate simultaneously to unload the entire ship in less than 2 hours.
The command bridge rises higher than a 10-story building.
Silicone painting applied to the ship bottom reduces water resistance and saves 317,000 gallons of diesel per year.
A recent documentary in late March, 2010 on the History Channel noted that all of these containers are shipped back to China - empty! Yep, that's right. We send nothing back on these ships. What does that tell you about the current financial state of this country? Just keep buying those imported goods (mostly gadgets) until you run out of money.Then you may wonder what the cause of unemployment (maybe even your job) in the U.S. and Canada might be.
'nuff said ?
2 comments:
Excellent post!!
Wowwwwwwww! I wonder just exactly how many jobs these goods take to make that could be given to our fellow countrymen and women....
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