Comments by "Comm0ut" (@Comm0ut) on "What's Going on With Shipping?" channel.

  1. Fuel requiring tanker transport highlights how vulnerable logistics really are to disruption far away from a combat zone. One drone with one payload can easily end a civilian tanker at trivial cost to enemies. Any ship can instantly become a blockship (whose use goes back thousands of years in war) disabling valuable seaports. There should be emergency plans for rapid wreckage removal in emergencies including, if necessary, ecologically-indifferent destructive methods for use during war.
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  2. Good if they do because it will FORCE redundant comms which should have existed in the first place. Redundant rapidly deployed satcom is the way to have rapid redundant backup out of reach of third world terrorists. Most internet use is amusement not survival. Weak "single point of failure" systems appeal because of low cost but if continuity between Europe and Asia is degraded that's a fine incentive to build redundant backups AND cough up the money for sufficient naval power to protect sea lanes.
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  3. When the bridge is replaced what options exist to protect it, for example building obstacles constructed like breakwaters at standoff distance to ground approaching ships before they can strike the bridge? For example say 100 meters worth of concrete tetrahedrons could halt a vessel by grounding well before impact. The ideal fix would be a tunnel but that would take too long to design and construct.
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  4. Turning homes off at the master is preferable so know where yours is before you need to, for example if your home plumbing springs a leak.
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  5. Those aren't colonists, they're Americans visiting. I love how the clue-averse shills come out for these threads. There is zero excuse for not knowing the difference. For example many US Christians go there to visit their holy places.
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  6.  @tjiofdgxjwnjktjs  I'd prefer they came back in bags or urns either being easier to transport.
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  7. Not to anyone with a clue. AL is ancient history and security has evolved considerably by then. Embarking people Israel permitted to enter is not like embarking random people in times before security was taken seriously.
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  8. I predict neither possible victor is even capable of having sufficient interest to study the subject. Find a key lower-ranking person who can afford to care about the issue. Remember you can only give politicians votes or money. Nothing else matters so any shipping-related intitiatives need to come from SENATORS whose states are most affected (which being coastal states with money should not be too hard if the effort is made). The average American reads therefore thinks at roughly 8th grade level which would be horrific if they knew enough to care. Shipping will never be a mainstream political issue because the average moron isn't able to understand why it is critical to their quality of life. Promotional efforts must be laser focused to do any good.
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  9. If you assume everything is a staged event that does not make you insightful, just simplistic.
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  10. Steel is impressively flexible. If ships were stiff as glass they'd promptly snap.
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  11. I'd like to see an episode devoted to maritime inspection and maintenance management including successful standards and practices and how systems degrade over time. Without a professional working culture including professional supervision and leadership it's easy for problems to be ignored and work put off until Something Bad happens.
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  12. ALWAYS seek real subject matter experts. Anyone who is not should be ignored. The average idiot cannot process that idea or even the information in this video so their lazy, lesser minds naturally prefer simple, affirming and wrong theories. Conspiracy theory appeals to the weakminded because they can feel "safe" attributing EVERYTHING to conspiracy. The human desire to have "special insight" is typical and also explains religions. Such people are not rational and refuse to question their own processes.
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  13. GWOT rot happended and SENIOR UNIFORMED LEADERSHIP FAILURE happened over DECADES. Armed forces programs outlive mere POTUS who have far less influence than plebs imagine. Failure to speak up is why we have Sal having to do that while politicians in uniform concentrate on their careers knowing that public ignorance shields them from scrutiny.
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  14. What suitable commercial hydrography assets exist? Perhaps that mission is best outsourced rather than replacing a government vessel which lacks a combat mission. The crew issue on other vessels could be addressed by using ex-Manawanui crew elsewhere to reduce crew overload.
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  15. Europeans should be very glad they're not represented by American labor organizations. The general US public know nothing of labor history (or anything else that's not a childish trifle) so they fail to demand effective, ethical unions. US culture is fundamentally bootlicking towards the rich who easily buy the allegiance of the thoughtless "booboisie" (as H.L.Mencken referred to them). Our unions aren't very good at PUBLIC outreach, ceding the narrative to the bosses. I took care to avoid any career needing a union because I'd have an enemy employer and a questionably effective advocate! It's sad and will not change much unless the economy coerces activism. Our recently averted (by government order) rail strike is instructive and the workers did poorly. Compare US railroaders sick pay and leave benefits to those of the (much more efficient and modern) northern European rail systems. The freight safety situation is also horrendous. https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/120222-us-railroad-strike-averted-after-congress-steps-in-biden-signs-legislation https://www.nytimes.com/article/ohio-train-derailment-timeline.html
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  16. Just how bad in general are bottom-feeder shipping outfits and what (guesstimated with all appropriate caveats) volume of shipping is neglected dangerous junk no one sane should permit in their harbors? Humans are not trustworthy (the proudest most sensitive to "face" often the least) creatures and professionalism differs considerably even in so-called first world nations. I'm not ideologically suspiscious. That's a side issue. What do interest me are safe operating practices since safety and quality maintenance cost money which is a major incentive to neglect.
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  17. There is no excuse for making OBVIOUS mistakes then repeating them against repeated examples of failure. Modern war doesn't leave time to fix screwups....unless casualties don't matter. Sailors will die because of Navy incompetence.
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  18. That depends on what SPECIFIC piece of equipment failed and how it failed. The incident report should be interesting.
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  19.  @willw8011  My various contractorbros would disagree, and they worked in more hostile environments. Had my back not been bad I'd have made bank joining them.
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  20. The US Navy demonstrates decades of gross institutional incompetence that would not have been tolerated during say the early Cold War. GAO should place agents in all the armed forces since they proved they cannot be trusted to police themselves or to tell the truth unless cornered. The end of military ethics, heavily corroded during GWOT, is a senior leadership failure of monumental proportions that leadership can never afford to admit for personal career reasons. (The USAF teaches about Billy Mitchell because he tubed his career unrequited, not as an example to inspire other potential martyrs.) The American public permit this because they're mostly (Sal being a noble outlier!) indifferent to civic duty. The American public need to grow up and stop worshiping the military and trusting the armed forces to be competent because ALL humans require TEAM oversight. Public neglect costs lives in war. Veterans do not hallucinate the sun shines out our posteriors and no one else should either. Modular ships can at best only do one thing at a time and the other modules do NOTHING in port. That this idea was not instantly scorned is degenerate. No one will suffer a career hit for such obvious idiocy. The Navy gets away with no oversight because like the rest of DoD no competent civilians OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM exist to ride herd on them. Failure is inexcusable but one is punished because the US armed forces are a self-licking ice cream cone. They failed in A-stan (and lied about it for two decades). They generated a Pyrrhic victory in Iraq. They cannot manage AFV or Naval procurement and aren't very good at aircraft. This is because there is no cost to those in charge for screwing the proverbial pooch.
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  21. They're not needed for this operation so why would that matter? It's a short trip across part of the Med, not evac'ing Saigon.
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  22. Given the US only uses our armed forces for constabulary wars of choice the more circumstantial deterrence to misbegotten stupidity by our civilian "leadership" (political hacks all be they Demublican or Repocrat) the better. While the US abandoning NATO is a start, dying so Taiwan can get rich selling us chips isn't the brightest idea and should be next on the budget chopping block.
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  23.  @danielch6662  The region itself is hostile and non-state actors have drones and missiles. "Bases" are not interchangeable.
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  24. ICE fires abound too. (Ford cruise control kickoff Kapton diaphragm, Ford ignition switches, GM ignition switches etc). Leaving harnesses CONSTANTLY HOT is easy on designers but not too bright from a safety POV. Never forget the craven desperate greed behind the used vehicle industry outside the US. Expecting professionalism from bottom feeder shipping outfits is absurd. It must be enforced in a manner where PEOPLE not businesses are punished. Pull the batteries. Salvage yards do. It is not rocket surgery. ICE, hydbrid, BEV, whatever. Yank them and store in containers such that the containers can be jettisoned over the side. Simple racks and latches can be remote controlled turning containers packed with batteries into "rectangular depth charges". This is not exotic, it's basic fab. A ship loaded with auction junkers is begging for fire UNLESS the batteries are removed which they can be. Vehicles can be loaded by a warehouse tug fitted with common wheel lifts as used on wreckers or wheel lift forklift attachments. The second requires nothing but COTS components. The reason I mention this is it's not going to happen because shippers don't care (or they'd already be doing it).
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  25. The German submarine commander rescuing two Sailors and radioing the base at Queenstown was an act of a more chivalrous age. Chivalry in WWII would get U156 attacked despite towing lifeboats from Laconia.
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  26. How common are broken anchor flukes? The anchor was recovered and the fractured area doesn't reflect quality construction.
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  27.  @causewaykayak  Ship tag was an old USSR naval custom and a competent captain could expect to escape which he did.
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  28.  @dosmundos3830  You mean over the third world which simps for the Kremlin.
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  29. How about LISTING all the foreign owned US port companies as a text comment WITH LINKS? That makes it easy to copy and paste. Manufactured opposition to American worker activism can partially countered by disseminating facts.
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  30. Anti-drone coverage will be key now that anyone with a drone and explosives can hit most anything they can reach. Most US vessels were built before drones were a credible threat.
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  31. Unlike the 1970s OPEC crisis the West is in much better shape to weather oil supply disruptions. Disruptions affect transportation less and less as BEVs and hybrids are fielded. Another "gas crisis" would further force the world away from enriching the corrupt Gulf states which they weren't sitting on oil would be irrelevant and dealt with accordingly.
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  32. People imagine the control works in that direction without any historic evidence of such. Superstition is the sole reason anyone outside Israel cares about Israel, and that superstition directs US policy towards sacred dirt.
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  33. I'd like to see a video specifically covering UN-professional shipping practices. corrupt shippers, pencil-whipped marine surveyor inspections etc. In every business some degree of corruption and incompetence is normal be it high or low, but the maritime world likely has many unique differences from other transport.
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  34. Yemen has no sovereignty outside Yemeni waters.
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  35. Observant enemy senior leadership know how easy it is to block US ports using blockships. Measures to prevent this should be considered before it happens. Terrorists could make short work of it with any of many practical explosive devices while infiltrating a foreign vessel isn't rocket surgery.
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  36. Trade disruptions would have the effect of tariffs without a trade war. Most US imports are trifles, not survival needs.. The "world" doesn't matter unless the US also benefits or the "world" can build their own damn navies. Infinite un-reciprocated charity should be questioned. If a few non-US flagged vessels registered in Bungholistan get captured or sunk the real owners can pay to sort it out including paying for security. It's only money. BTW most US oil trade is DISCRETIONARY which means IRL it is of no great benefit to our economy. We can pump more oil domestically while investing further in alternate energy if Persian Gulf oil is interrupted. It's not 1973 any more and Americans build BEVs just fine. I would like to see more Gulf instability to help coerce US and European industries off the petroleum teat because the oil exporting countries of the Persian Gulf don't deserve the money of free peoples. The only reason they get our money is (in the case of the US) logistics convenience for the oil companies and (in the case of Europe) failure to develop their own oil, gas and nuclear (though France does nukes better than anyone else not being ignorant Luddites) energy. Nothing else will do the job and the alternative is permanent slavish craven US and EU dependence on their Gulf cultural enemies. We've seen the EU can detach from Russia and the next tyrannies to defund are KSA and Iran. Sending money to Wahabis in KSA etc and Jihadists in Tehran is a function of greed not need. We pay them to oppress their own citizens while funding their wars.
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  37. Thanks to this channel I learned much maritime activity is an utter clown show, to include sending cruise ships into combat zones. That anyone would book a cruise through the area is hilariously absurd.
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  38. If owning nations cared about maritime safety they would flag vessels in civilization thereby to pay for adequate naval protection. They don't and won't because their general publics are not capable of interest in these subjects. Environmental damage may be an own goal since Houthi logistics include fishing.
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  39. Western values do not apply there nor are they at all relevant.
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  40. Everyone should bend the knee and work for free rather than inconvenience others. Why are intrasigient business worshipped rather than expected to do more than exploit their workforces?
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  41.  @mikekahl4745  "Free market" is an illusion and always has been. It is invoked when someone is butthurt then blames some nebulous system.
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  42. Funding is a CHOICE and the Northeast is rich. There should be a dedicated port fire department. Charge suitable port fees to fund it. The ship wasn't worth any serious risk. It's just steel and if it burns down, it's scrap steel. I've worked in auto salvage yards which are what that upper deck looks like.
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  43. Key is the American public (outside professionals and the tiny few genuinely interested) do not understand or care about shipping AT ALL and have not done so in the past several decades. Most outside the issue of military reform don't know that issue is not remotely of public interest because it's more complex than the trifles they prefer to mental engagement. Combine those nationally self-inflicted problems and here we are.
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  44. None who didn't know exactly what they signed of for, and none whose departure from this mortal coil would not mean one less Jihadist.
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  45.  @BrentRichards-vp1cg  The US economy does not depend on Red Sea trade and shippers can route around it. The more imports cost (most of US imports are consumer junk no one needs) the better for domestic industries which benefit from insourcing. They will adapt because the past proves the US can build any industry it wishes.
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  46. It's only a floating dumpster. Why do people emote over dead steel that ends in a foreign scrapyard? It's not an AMERICAN vessel nor is it AMERICAN flagged so nothing of value is lost. Future trade can go elsewhere. It's only rich shipowner money and since they don't pay US taxes why care if their ships go down? I of course care about the CREW but that's not a US problem either.
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  47. Sad about Youtube rules but Google are run by weak people who cater to weak people. Backlash may eventually bring back the good old days when it was cool to harshly put them in their place away from adult discussions.
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  48.  @karlbrundage7472  They got into the lifeboats as mentioned.
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  49. Companies selling CCP junk will move said junk a bit slower.
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  50. Not safely.
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