Major bridge collapse in Baltimore

Sounds great until something goes wrong. It also sounds like something a venture capitalist who bought a shipping line came up with to squeeze out more profit. Things break. Sand bars shift. The weather goes crazy. Shit happens, and it happens fairly often on boats.

 

Amazing how many Magassholes are suddenly experts in engineering, the inner workings of how to pilot a container ship and seamanship.

 

My point was in open crossings, autopilot is perfectly fine with certain stipulations. Departures and arrivals better have have one of us hairless monkeys at the grips.

 

Yeah, the nautical safety record of the MAGA Navy isn't the best.

 

Yesterday I was on a call with Cox Automotive -- a big dog in the industry -- and its chief economist, Jonathan Smoke, had this to say about the bridge collapse's effect on automotive.

"A new concern emerged this week with the Key Bridge tragedy in Baltimore. While Baltimore is the top port for auto shipments, this is not likely to cause or create a sudden new problem in vehicle supply that will materially impact the market. The port is heavy for exports and imports, but there are alternatives and the impact on the overall supply in resulting price trends is likely to be negligible.

"While it was discussed by many [at the New York Auto Show], it was really something that I believe we're seeing both the exporters and the importers adjust. There are options. It's not like that's the only place the vehicles can flow, and while Baltimore is a high-volume port, it is not a number that is of substance. So our conclusion is that the market is likely to be able to react, and that's why I said we're really not expecting supply overall or pricing overall to see much of a blip caused by it.

"But of course the devil is always in the details, and I suspect if you're a dealer representing a European brand in the Northeast, that's where the most risk is likely to be from the vehicles that previously went through that port."

 

Absolutely. It was "crewless" that set me off. My point is that there are so many systems that can break, short out, suffer any number of mechanical failures. Now add in large objects floating in the water, like containers that have fallen from container ships, etc. Anyone who has spent much time on boats has dealt with things breaking, or becoming entangled. There are so many random factors. On the one hand, we're talking about the open ocean, not a driverless car on a crowded street. On the other, we're talking about a massive amount of tonnage under power. If it does hit something, it likely won't be a fender bender sort of accident.

 

An Australian mining company runs autonomous trains several hundred miles from mine to port through sparsely populated areas. There has been one accident. But we digress...

 

The open ocean is a bit different from running along rails fixed to the ground. They'll probably find a way to make it work, since there is money to be made if they can cut out the crew. It's how well they can react and what sort of damage is done if something does go wrong that concerns me.

 

I will attest that a ship without a human crew is an unholy abomination.

 

They're the same people who were also suddenly experts in flight engineering and thermodynamics.