Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: Bogie on October 16, 2021, 07:28:20 AM
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The administration seems to think that they can throw bodies at the problem, and have everyone working multiple shifts...
This isn't stevedore work anymore. It is huge cranes, etc.
VERY trained operators.
Not gonna happen.
(next up: pictures of forklift accidents in warehouses)
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Maybe they can unload them at night. I hear crickets on that oil spill that was caused by a dragging anchor. Imagine it with orangemanbad in office.
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As someone that has been in commercial ports all over the world, I'm confused by the idea that cranes and stevedores didn't already work pretty much 24/7. All the ports I've been to worked all night, and you had a pier time slot that you had to hit. Miss your time slot and you could be waiting a while. And that was before COVID.
It's not like they have a couple extra gantry cranes in the back to whip out and assemble real quick.
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As someone that has been in commercial ports all over the world, I'm confused by the idea that cranes and stevedores didn't already work pretty much 24/7. All the ports I've been to worked all night, and you had a pier time slot that you had to hit. Miss your time slot and you could be waiting a while. And that was before COVID.
It's not like they have a couple extra gantry cranes in the back to whip out and assemble real quick.
Yeah, I've been confused by that as well. I see talk about "We have to get these ports to operate 24/7 and trucks to run at night" as if before they were only running 9-5 and letting all that equipment sit, and everyone wait, the rest of the time. I'm only familiar with LA/LB, but anytime I was there, I always saw activity. They might not have been running at 100% capacity at 0200 - I don't know - and maybe that's what's being talked about now.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6o93Gwiarc
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(https://social.infogalactic.com/images/posts/f783b964-372f-483d-aaa5-7bfbe8c30757/original-289afdcdf5e89b2682bfe2e8eee4e1b9.jpeg?v=63801612426)
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I've read that the heavy crane operators - with their very powerful union - are deliberately working very s-l-o-w-l-y to unload container ships and load the trucks waiting for the containers. Pulling all sorts of cr@p like making some truckers wait longer (hours or even days) to get loaded. Entire crews for ALL of the cranes take off together for 2 hour lunches. And of course, complaining brings retaliation.
Experienced crane operators are assigned to a specific crane/shift, and make ~$250,000 a year. Junior operators can be moved around, and make "only" about $200,000 annually.
Running 24/7 doesn't make much difference if the crane operators aren't doing their d@mn jobs properly. This sort of reminds me of the stories I heard about union work slowdowns from workers building Liberty ships during WWII. :mad:
I can think of solutions . . . but they would NEVER fly in a D-controlled state like Kali.
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I have lost track of him, but I knew a guy who was a longshoreman crane operator on Harbor Island in Seattle. Back in the early 2010's, he was making over $ 200 K per year with overtime. The other interesting thing I learned was that the longshore union was very much a family affair. If you were related to a union member, you could get a union job. Many jobs were passed down from father to son. If you were an outsider, it was hard to break into the untion.
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And now we see the problem with unions (again). I bet there are crane operators in this country that would fly out there and unload ships for 3-6 months like the travel nurses do. (looks at my Crane Operator cert)
But the *expletive deleted*it would hit the fan in that port if the owners hired people willing to work.
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So the backup in cargo is due to what?
So is it the crane operators doing a slowdown or the lack of truckers due to new regulations?
Maybe both or something else as well?
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Do the crane operators and truck drivers have to have The Vax to work there? That could be an issue.
Or maybe they get 2 weeks paid time off if they test positive.
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Never let a crisis go to waste. The theme song of the American Democrat Socialist Party. They are so blind to what they seek to do, it would be funny if it wasn't so serious and evil.
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https://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2021/10/history-for-short-attention-span-crowd.html
money quote:
"You can't starve a python for nearly eighteen months, than suddenly try to feed it an entire herd of elephants, and expect that everything will proceed smoothly through from there.
This shouldn't have had to be said, yet here we are."
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Shouldn't someone be learning to code right about now?
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(https://i.redd.it/znt8fp1tc0u71.jpg)
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(https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsm.mashable.com%2Ft%2Fmashable_in%2Fphoto%2Fdefault%2Fspaceeeefg_z3pf.910.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
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Maria Bartiromo had a segment on it on her show this morning. She said that it's a real shipshow. :rofl:
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https://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2021/10/history-for-short-attention-span-crowd.html
I learned so many interesting things about logistics by reading that blog entry and comments.
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Have y'all ever had to deal with crossdock stuff?
Like down in Laredo or El Paso where I would occasionally pick up loads... One side is Mexico, the other the US...
If the guy in the warehouse isn't doing his job...
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I have lost track of him, but I knew a guy who was a longshoreman crane operator on Harbor Island in Seattle. Back in the early 2010's, he was making over $ 200 K per year with overtime. The other interesting thing I learned was that the longshore union was very much a family affair. If you were related to a union member, you could get a union job. Many jobs were passed down from father to son. If you were an outsider, it was hard to break into the untion.
That is stupid money. What hours are they working to get that? Shouldn't be a shortage of people for that kind of money.
I work with a guy who said he tried to get into a plumber's union in Houston area back when he was younger. It became obvious the only people accepted were kids and people with the right sponsors. He didn't have either. So what you said doesn't surprise me.
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It isn't just the container ships.
Imagine a warehouse where 18 wheelers, or even your railroad cars, go to be unloaded. And the yard driver doesn't show up for work, or the lumpers figure they can make better money somewhere else, or the LTL straight truck company can't get drivers who want to show up? The guy driving the forklift wants $20/hour instead of $13... And so on..
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In addition - there are also government employees in the mix. Customs, etc...
If someone wants to slow things down... "Gee, fellows, we're going to have to have a meeting about this. The conference room is over at the Holiday Inn. There will be a breakfast."
Or maybe you just decree that, instead of sifting through every hundredth container, you are doing one in 20... And the manager who used to run that show got fired because she wasn't diverse enough...
And things stop.
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I imagine that some in the unions are lazy. Not a real stretch. I also imagine that some are of the Let's go Brandon type. Except they are not hurting Brandon right now, just all of us. Not that they care since the two types of people in the world are(insert appropriate transport union here) brothers or scabs. I am going to be extra nice to truckers in interstate traffic, of those working their patience is probably not the best right now.
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Have y'all ever had to deal with crossdock stuff?
Only a couple of times and it was a total disaster both times. The warehouse receiving the shipment would always say that the shipment didn't belong to them at first which would then set off several hours of phone calls, my having to hit multiple doors, product being pulled off, product being put back on, basically utter confusion in the warehouse and it's offices.
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Have y'all ever had to deal with crossdock stuff?
Like down in Laredo or El Paso where I would occasionally pick up loads... One side is Mexico, the other the US...
If the guy in the warehouse isn't doing his job...
Yes. Between Iraq and Kuwait. It is standard to take a week or so to cross that 300 meters.
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Once the crane drops the container on the dock, do they use those big container forklifts to move it around or is there some other system?
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The more modern ports, the gantry crane will drop it right on a truck. Usually a little yard dog that can take it to a staging area for movement by a Trex (https://www.lencrowforklifts.com.au/new-forklift/full-container-handlers/terex-full-container-handlers-130/130) or similar.
ETA: Yard Dog: https://autowtruck.com/wp-content/uploads/Header-Autow-Spotters-and-Yard-Dogs.jpg
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Want to watch the longshoremans union go into a fit of apoplexy? Mention automating the crane systems that unload container ships. Best do so with a gun already in hand if you want a chance to survive the conversation.
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^^^Because I like to learn something every day, is it actually feasible to automate crane container loading/unloading?
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^^^Because I like to learn something every day, is it actually feasible to automate crane container loading/unloading?
easy peasy.
https://www.gihub.org/resources/showcase-projects/automated-robot-cranes-for-ports/
https://thetius.com/a-brief-guide-to-container-terminal-automation/ (FWIW, most of the issues it talks about with the quay cranes are non issues already. Auto twist-locks are very common, anti sway and anti swell software already exists in cranes, and ship positioning sensors exist.)
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I heard second hand that the local port has all sorts of quarantine procedures, decontamination procedures, etc, etc that slow down unloading. Supposedly went from unloading 7 to 8 freighters per day to 1 to 2. This is in Texas. Probably a lot more to it as it was only a 2 minute conversation.
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If it wasn't for the rampant prosperity in the USA with all of this newly affluent (and just new) workers ordering items this backlog would not exist. Or something like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XczY6Z6YPjg
:O :rofl:
bob
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If it wasn't for the rampant prosperity in the USA with all of this newly affluent (and just new) workers ordering items this backlog would not exist. Or something like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XczY6Z6YPjg
:O :rofl:
bob
I know, right? All these jackasses buying designer treadmills are creating stuff like windshield shortages!
It continues to amaze me that people buy this load of *expletive deleted*it.
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I know, right? All these jackasses buying designer treadmills are creating stuff like windshield shortages!
It continues to amaze me that people buy this load of *expletive deleted*it.
It amazes me she can stand up there and say this *expletive deleted*it with a straight face.
bob
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The more modern ports, the gantry crane will drop it right on a truck. Usually a little yard dog that can take it to a staging area for movement by a Trex (https://www.lencrowforklifts.com.au/new-forklift/full-container-handlers/terex-full-container-handlers-130/130) or similar.
ETA: Yard Dog: https://autowtruck.com/wp-content/uploads/Header-Autow-Spotters-and-Yard-Dogs.jpg
Some ports have on-dock railyards so the container can be transferred from the ship to an intermodal train:
https://www.portoflosangeles.org/business/supply-chain/rail
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El Paso is also a serious crossdock center - I think that a lot of the freight there also started out from overseas...
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Meanwhile in Tacoma WA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvarcjAr7Mk
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Meanwhile in Tacoma WA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvarcjAr7Mk
So I am thinking messed up customs and COVID restrictions at the port.