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An Inch of Water. What's it Worth? (maritime shipping)
National Ocean Service ^ | June 23, 2017 | NOS News

Posted on 06/23/2017 7:29:47 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Our nation’s ports are the lifelines of our economy. In 2016, foreign trades through U.S. ports were valued at $1.5 trillion—$475 billion exports and $1.0 trillion imports were moved by vessels. When goods travel through ports, it means they are traveling via ship.

NOS is in the business of making sure that mariners—and the goods they are transporting—make it to their destinations safely and quickly. Just as airplane pilots need to know current weather and ground conditions, ship captains need to know exactly what's going on in the water and in the air. NOS monitoring systems supply mariners with the real-time data they need, providing information such as water levels, wind and current speeds and directions, and water temperature. But what does this have to do with that inch of water?

A ship needs a certain amount of water in order to float and not touch bottom. This water depth is called the ship’s “draft.” The more cargo a ship carries, the more the ship will weigh, meaning it will sink more and require more draft. Even a slight decrease in the depth of a waterway will require a ship to reduce the amount of cargo it is carrying. On the flipside, more water means more cargo. This, in turn, translates into fewer trips needed to transport goods.

Accurate data provided by NOS are crucial to making decisions regarding ship draft and cargo loads. In the absence of this information, mariners would need to be much more conservative in their draft estimates, or risk additional maritime accidents.

Still not convinced about that inch? Let’s look at some more stats.

With one more inch of draft, a ship can transport an additional:

36 John Deere tractors, worth more than $2.4 million

9,600 laptop computers, valued at $8.5 million

358,000 pounds of wheat, worth more than $30,000

1,540 55-inch televisions, worth approximately $3 million

Consider that carrying more cargo on a single trip means fewer trips overall to transfer the same amount of materials. That’s good for the safety of our waterways, it’s good for the environment, and, because it saves money, it’s good for your wallet.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chat; commerce; draft; dredging; maritime; shipping; water

1 posted on 06/23/2017 7:29:47 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Interesting. Back in the Obama years, when a government agency wanted a bigger budget, they would latch onto environmentalism, climate change, or some other catastrophe. Now, under the Trump years, it is jobs.

I think it would be a good idea, under Trump's infrastructure plan, if we upgraded port, especially Gulf ports so they can accept the biggest ships coming through the widened Panama Canal.

2 posted on 06/23/2017 7:44:24 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Just think of the extra tonnage cargo ships are going to be able to carry when Global Warming really kicks in and the seas rise to predicted levels. /s


3 posted on 06/23/2017 7:58:11 PM PDT by Vinnie
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

It isn’t the inch of water per se that has worth, but the knowledge that it is (or isn’t) there which may be worth millions.


4 posted on 06/23/2017 7:59:02 PM PDT by lightman (Trump = A glorious amalgamation of Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan!)
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To: lightman

In the meantime, Enviro-Nazi’s are cancelling their trips to the Arctic to study the “loss” of ice because the ice is more than they can navigate.

And it’s due to “Climate change”.

Insanity.


5 posted on 06/23/2017 8:05:58 PM PDT by Zeneta
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
$475 billion exports and $1.0 trillion imports

Does anyone see a problem with this?

6 posted on 06/23/2017 8:06:50 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: central_va

Mixed bag...few manufacturing jobs here, but we should surely be able to reduce foreign aid by $525 billion.


7 posted on 06/23/2017 8:15:06 PM PDT by lightman (Trump = A glorious amalgamation of Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan!)
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To: lightman

Total US foreign aid is $45 billion.


8 posted on 06/23/2017 8:19:18 PM PDT by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
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To: Vinnie

“Just think of the extra tonnage cargo ships are going to be able to carry when Global Warming really kicks in and the seas rise to predicted levels. /s”

Why the sarcasm tag - it’s absolutely true. Just one of the many advantages of global warming.


9 posted on 06/23/2017 8:47:40 PM PDT by aquila48
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To: Vinnie

When the seas rise (if they do), the ships will have to be smaller again to pass under the bridges.


10 posted on 06/23/2017 8:53:30 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (April 2006 Message from Dan http://www.dansimmons.com/news/message/2006_04.htm)
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To: central_va

If we ultimately cut our taxes, this inequity should balance out some as more manufacturing pops up over here.


11 posted on 06/23/2017 8:54:18 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (April 2006 Message from Dan http://www.dansimmons.com/news/message/2006_04.htm)
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To: jjotto
Total US foreign aid is $45 billion.

Time to flatline it, then.

12 posted on 06/23/2017 8:58:44 PM PDT by lightman (Trump = A glorious amalgamation of Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan!)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

What total BS!

Adjust the ship’s schedule to navigate shallower water at high tide.


13 posted on 06/23/2017 9:10:08 PM PDT by Noob1999 (For)
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To: Noob1999

There is no sea rise from glulbel warming. The rise is due to the excess of boats in the water raising the level of the ocean.


14 posted on 06/24/2017 5:36:42 AM PDT by oldasrocks (rump)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
the ships will have to be smaller again to pass under the bridges.

Hmm , didn't think of that!

15 posted on 06/24/2017 5:37:53 AM PDT by Vinnie
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Not discussed here is the issue of dredging in some ports. It is a very expensive process even for a small area. One of the problems is that the spoils are “polluted” and can’t be just dumped out further into the ocean. Here in Portland we have been wrestling with this issue as it relates to our piers/wharfs where sediment has been piling up causing problems even for smaller vessels such as fishing boats.

I have thought that the solution to this would be to put blowers with pipes leading down to the bottom at the inner end to blow the sediment back out the the river (what most think as the inner harbor of Portland Maine is actually the Fore River). One we have dredged the polluted spoils out, fresh sediment should be fairly clean. We would still need to dredge the river from time to time, but that is an easier task.

I commented about this to our city waterfront coordinator who noted the the one pier without a problem is our ferry terminal pier where The Cat ferry run from Portland Maine the Yarmouth Nova Scotia. The Cat which runs as a hydrofoil apparently blows all of the sediment out leaving a deep draft area at that berth. I jokingly suggested we could run The Cat into all of the other piers and wharfs saving millions in dredging costs. The envrio weenies would not like that.


16 posted on 06/24/2017 5:51:16 AM PDT by Steven Scharf
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Number one Law of boating:

Never let draft exceed depth.


17 posted on 06/24/2017 5:58:14 AM PDT by Quick Shot
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To: Vinnie

Beat me to it but with more water there will be lower bridges requiring shorter ships. What will we do? /s


18 posted on 06/24/2017 9:13:40 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just have a few days that don't suck.)
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