Posted on 12/30/2015 10:22:22 PM PST by TigerClaws
The CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin is longer than the Empire State Building is tall, dwarfs the largest aircraft carrier in the US Navy, and can carry the volume of 235 Olympic swimming pools. And for the first time, the vast vessel has docked at the Port of Los Angeles, making it the largest container ship to ever reach the United States.
The cargo ship arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday, the first part of a multi-stage trip along the US west coast that will also see it stop in Oakland on December 31st. Set against the Port of Los Angeles' huge cranes, a time-lapse video of the vessel arriving for the first time in the US almost makes it look normal in scale, but compared to the largest boats on the sea, the Benjamin Franklin is a monster. Its deck is 1,300 feet from prow to stern — longer than than three football fields — and it can lug 18,000 containers across the world's oceans, requiring an engine that puts out as much thrust as 11 Boeing 747-400 engines.
(Excerpt) Read more at theverge.com ...
A heck of a lot a troops could be smuggled on one of those.
Isn’t it great that unions were able to shut down ports after refusing $108,000 longshoreman’s contracts?
Isn’t it great that between unions and OSHA the United States isn’t building ships like this?
Leftist policies FTW!
That’s a lot of goods that could have been made in the U.S. And a lot of jobs to boost our economy if they had been.
Probably Walmart stuff.
Holds 18,000 containers, which is also 18,000 truckloads. That’s enough to shut down all traffic arteries heading out of the port. The Long Beach Fwy is already nearly nose to tail container trucks already.
The Queen Mary carried 15,000+ troops in a single passage during WWII.
The standard container unit is 20 feet so this would equal 9000 truckloads.
Most will end up on trains though.
Either way it is a lot of empty containers to ship out of the USA.
There are two basic containers sizes , 20 & 40 feet, and there is a third extended, probably 48 foot.
Don’t what assortment the ship is carrying, but certainly 9,000 minimum, more likely many more.
We used to build the biggest, highest, longest, fastest... best of everything.
Not anymore. We’re like Gulliver - a giant hamstrung by Lilliputans
The way they max-stack those containers, everything is fine until a big ocean storm hits .... then a lot of the top ones go overboard .... next thing you know, loads of sneakers (and other freebies) are washing up on West Coast beaches
They probably have it under contract.
There's a BNSF rail line about 3 miles north of my house that is almost exclusively container traffic: full containers east, empties west. I'll keep an eye out for those distinctive blue containers in the future.
Yuge...
Box ship capacities are stated in TEUs, twenty foot equivalent units. If she is 18 000 teu, she can lift ~9000 forty foot boxes, or 18 000 20 foot cans.
The 48 foot boxes require different cell guides and mounting shoes and are usually put back on the poop. There are comparatively very few of the 48 foot boxes in use.
OMG is that funny. Tears streaming down my face.
The same line is near my place in AZ. Yep. Loaded with containers. Even with lower fuel prices it’s still cheaper to put ‘em on trains for cross country shipping when time is not the main factor.
Everything gets trucked at some point though.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.