Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
Possible they have become a bit too big. Container shipping is a reason why things have become so cheap and affordable (comparable to assembly lines and mass production) , so a development at that direction - growing business with container an dbigger ships) was logical. But one may have exaggerated it. A bit like with the A380 versus Dreamliner bet by Airbus and Boeing. We know by now that the A380 was one step too far, too big. Smaller planes are in demand, the A380 is already doomed to become a petrified dinosaur.
Maybe container ships will shrink a bit in size, and container shipping certainly will take a dive, now that globalization is kind of reversed to lower dependency from China. Disappearing it will not. Smaller ships, maybe even more of them than there are now. More flexibility for freight scheduling.
But all that is in the end just my unqualified guessing. I know not much, better: nothing about this business. Only that the costs per container have exploded by factors of up to 20 - and that was Fanatec saying so in autumn last year.
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The Boeing airbus bet was a simple theory based on practice, Airbus bet on the hub and spoke method (then largely in use) Boeing the direct route, in air travel the direct route is much preferred but this in turn eliminates the smaller regionals.
The direct route for shipping isn't always the best route yes it sounds stupid but you have a chain the big ships will call at various ports picking up and setting down then feeders take them to smaller ports.
Problem with that is if you want a system like what Boeing bet on your going to need a lot more ships, more ships means more pollution, same in the aviation industry.