Save the Planet…Stop Global trade!!!
Container Ships are the dirtiest things on the planet!!
We need to STOP global trade if we want to reduce the largest source of global pollution on the planet.
We need to deglobalize our trade and start working with far shorter supply chains and Take Back Manufacturing.
A 40ft Container lands every 2 Seconds into the USA from global sources.
Container ships account for 90% of global trade by volume.
And the 90,000 cargo ships traveling the oceans of the world use low-grade bunker fuel, and each container ship emits sulfur pollutants equivalent to 50 million cars.
So, the total container ship pollution is 6 times that of the TOTAL cars in world.
So, every time I see an imported EV it makes me wonder about our sanity.
Sea contamination is a huge issue, and this kind of global pollution is much more concerning than the global CO2 emissions, and far more urgent.
The ships fuel and engines currently used emits 3500 times more Sulfur (SO2) than diesel cars.
It is responsible for the damage and extinction of birds and all types of marine life and coral reefs. It is a huge risk to human health and is accountable for the death and illness of 50,000 people worldwide that costs about $50 Billion per year.
All this is far greater than the impact of climate change.
The cost to clean up the ships with scrubbers and filters or improve the cleanliness of the fuel has been discussed, but the cost will be prohibitive for global trade to continue, so the only sane solution is to minimise the movement of goods and materials.
Shorter supply chains and reshoring our industrial capability also makes solid sense in terms of reducing the non-value-adding inventory trapped on these container ships, as well as reducing supply chains to improve many other business metrics, as well as improving overall national prosperity.
So, for many reasons, we must strive to operate with shorter and more localized supply chains and start to also localize our industries so that we mine, grow, and make, far more of what we consume so that we keep our seaways clean and save our planet!!!.
Powerful stuff - I have learned much from this piece and have concluded that I have been, with regards this matter asleep at the wheel. What to do?
Or we could build nuclear powered container ships.