Huge explosion in Chinese port

[Hawkmoon]

Firefighters may have helped cause the explosion.

Well, they won't make that mistake a second time ...

[Balog]

This and the other overhead graphic show different blast sites. Or did it all blow up.

I may never stand in front of a window again looking at the fragged wall.

After more reading I believe this graphic may be inaccurate. I think the blast was even closer to the apartments.

[Scout26]

I don't think this is the correct location of the blast site.  I think the prior graphic has the closest location (the green circle.)

[bedlamite]

700 tons of sodium cyanide is not a small amount.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/16/tianjin-blasts-sodium-cyanide-on-site-may-have-been-70-times-allowed-amount

[AJ Dual]

Nah. This is bad safety practices. If they wanted a distraction from their Yuan policy they would have ginned up a confrontation somewhere and blamed it on the other guys.

Rattle your sabre hard enough and you always get the media attention you want and you don't destroy an essential part of your economy.

No, you're 180 degrees backward on what I'm saying.  It would have been someone looking to hurt or discredit China or the ruling party further since destroying a major port would neuter or hamper their attempt at pumping exports. 

Of course it's just bad luck.  There's a fatal industrial accident in China every day.  This is just a matter of degree.

[Scout26]

No, you're 180 degrees backward on what I'm saying.  It would have been someone looking to hurt or discredit China or the ruling party further since destroying a major port would neuter or hamper their attempt at pumping exports. 

Of course it's just bad luck.  There's a fatal industrial accident in China every day.  This is just a matter of degree.

Then they picked the wrong spot.  This is well inland and simply Warehouses/Containers/Car parks.  None of the port nor dock facilities were damaged.  Chances are the ones taking the biggest hits will be either the factories that produced the goods or the shipping companies waiting to load/move the goods.   Most likely it will be marine insurance companies, depending on how the orders for what was in the containers were written.

[just Warren]

In the Reddit thread there was a guy who worked in insurance and his firm covered a lot of stuff in that facility. After he learned of the severity of the blast he started updating his resume because he knew the place he worked for was going under. Apparently they didn't use a re-insurer for some reason.

[MillCreek]

In the Reddit thread there was a guy who worked in insurance and his firm covered a lot of stuff in that facility. After he learned of the severity of the blast he started updating his resume because he knew the place he worked for was going under. Apparently they didn't use a re-insurer for some reason.

The risk manager, who has many layers of insurance with different carriers, says 'Ouch'.

[Scout26]

We know some of the things that keeps our resident Risk Manager awake at night.

Here's one of the things that keeps this Logistics Manager awake at night.  
http://www.cargolaw.com/2000nightmare_1_oocl_ameri.html   (scroll about halfway down.  Water can be damn powerful.)

And yes, in prior lives I lost containers overboard on ships.  Nothing like sitting in a meeting with the entire corporate staff and telling them that a $1million+ of inventory (that took 2-3 months for factories in China to make) are now sitting at the bottom of the Pacific.

Also having to explain, on other occasions, over and over again, as to why our insurance had to payout for a loss, when our container(s) made it safely across the big pond.  


BTW, there are more then just container and shipping accidents on the Cargolaw.com website.  They have lots of pictures of Jamis' and Flys320's handiwork also... Warning: It's a timesink.

http://www.cargolaw.com/1997nightmare.html 

[lupinus]

And yes, in prior lives I lost containers overboard on ships.  Nothing like sitting in a meeting with the entire corporate staff and telling them that a $1million+ of inventory (that took 2-3 months for factories in China to make) are now sitting at the bottom of the Pacific.

Also having to explain, on other occasions, over and over again, as to why our insurance had to payout for a loss, when our container(s) made it safely across the big pond.

I got majorly bitched at one time by a corporate buyer for not having her uberzomggottahavesitnowz! product in the building and ready to distribute yet. The fact it was still on the boat in the middle of the pacific was lost on her. To be fair, I had never heard her name before so I imagine her MBA was still all fresh and shiny.

I finally got tired of trying to explain basic logistics (and logic, such as "it's in the middle of the pacific *expletive deleted*ing ocean it'll be here when it's here"...not a direct quote) to her and asked if she'd like me to call the captain and ask him to make the boat go faster. This, too, was lost on her as she thought I was seriously offering to do so and was instantly happy as a clam. At least it got her off the phone, and it made for an interesting email exchange with her boss. I'd have loved to be a fly on the wall when he sat her down, I got the impression he wasn't pleased at being saddled with her in the first place.

[Scout26]

Yes, buyers.  The only people I hated more then the sales and marketing people.

I once had a buyer e-mail me (IN ALL CAPS) demanding to know where "her" product was.    I emailed her back with the last known map coordinates (along with course and speed) of the ship carrying "her" product.*  She didn't understand any of it and went to Charlie.  To whom I pointed out that I had provided her with the exact information she had demanded.   

Then there were the buyers that thought Air Freight=Fedex. 


*- I do so wish I would have thought to call the captain to make the boat go faster.  That is truly priceless.

[lupinus]

Yes, buyers.  The only people I hated more then the sales and marketing people.

I once had a buyer e-mail me (IN ALL CAPS) demanding to know where "her" product was.    I emailed her back with the last known map coordinates (along with course and speed) of the ship carrying "her" product.*  She didn't understand any of it and went to Charlie.  To whom I pointed out that I had provided her with the exact information she had demanded.   

Then there were the buyers that thought Air Freight=Fedex. 


*- I do so wish I would have thought to call the captain to make the boat go faster.  That is truly priceless.

Heh. I've lost count of the lovely conversations with idiot buyers. I always love the conversations that result when we "misreceive" the product after they took it upon themselves to assign it a new product code with no notable difference in the product.

[Fly320s]

 Flys320's handiwork also...

You can't prove anything!

[RevDisk]

You haven't quite lived as a shipper until you had Antonov Airlines.

That was always hilarious. They never blinked at any request. "You vant to transport Queen helicopter to England, King helicopter to Thailand and death squad helicopters to Saudi Arabia. Da. Next Thursday?"

They have a list of every single air field in the world that can more or less safely land their An-225. Never bent a delivery or missed a deadline, I was impressed.

Boeing Dreamlifter could be a competitor, but they aren't. They're used exclusively for shipping 787 parts around the world.

[AJ Dual]

Then they picked the wrong spot.  This is well inland and simply Warehouses/Containers/Car parks.  None of the port nor dock facilities were damaged.  Chances are the ones taking the biggest hits will be either the factories that produced the goods or the shipping companies waiting to load/move the goods.   Most likely it will be marine insurance companies, depending on how the orders for what was in the containers were written.

Looks like it is screwed up enough, most everything is being re-routed.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/08/huge-shipping-delays-for-toyota-deere.html

[birdman]

You haven't quite lived as a shipper until you had Antonov Airlines.

That was always hilarious. They never blinked at any request. "You vant to transport Queen helicopter to England, King helicopter to Thailand and death squad helicopters to Saudi Arabia. Da. Next Thursday?"

They have a list of every single air field in the world that can more or less safely land their An-225. Never bent a delivery or missed a deadline, I was impressed.

Boeing Dreamlifter could be a competitor, but they aren't. They're used exclusively for shipping 787 parts around the world.

I've encounted similar things with some other russian businesses.  Certain russians, when they 'get' capitalism, they REALLY get it.  And most people are surprised.

Same thing with long term complex strategy, people seem to forget The Russians have a -single word- for complex deception, and reliably generate world class chess players, mathematicians, and game theory experts far in excess of their population fraction.