What a ship

It’s no wonder 'Made in China' is displacing North American made goods big time. This monster transports goods across the Pacific in just 5 days! This is one of three ships presently in service, with another two ships commissioned to be completed in 2012. These ships were commissioned by Wal-Mart to get all their goods and stuff from China. They hold an incredible 15,000 containers and have a 207 foot deck beam (width). The full crew is just 13 people on a ship longer than a US Aircraft Carrier (which has a crew of 5,000). With its 207' beam it is too big to fit through the Panama or Suez Canals. It is strictly transpacific. Cruise speed is 31 knots. The goods arrive 4 days before the typical container ship (18-20 knots) on a China-to-California run. 91% of Walmart 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 floated together and then welded. The command bridge is higher than a 10-story building and has 11 cargo crane rigs that can operate simultaneously unloading the entire ship in less than two hours.

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. Yes, that's right we don’t have anything to send back on these ships. What does that tell you about the current manufacturing 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.

o