amazing story - largest fleet of ghost ships ever photographed

[HomerJ]

Revealed: The ghost fleet of the recession anchored just east of Singapore

The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination


some quotes from the article:

Here, on a sleepy stretch of shoreline at the far end of Asia, is surely the biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history. Their numbers are equivalent to the entire British and American navies combined; their tonnage is far greater.

Local fisherman Ah Wat, 42, who for more than 20 years has made a living fishing for prawns from his home in Sungai Rengit, says: 'Before, there was nothing out there - just sea. Then the big ships just suddenly came one day, and every day there are more of them.

Ah Wat says: 'We don't understand why they are here. There are so many ships but no one seems to be on board. When we sail past them in our fishing boats we never see anyone. They are like real ghost ships and some people are scared of them. They believe they may bring a curse with them and that there may be bad spirits on the ships.'

if ever you had an irrational desire to charter one, now would be the time. This time last year, an Aframax tanker capable of carrying 80,000 tons of cargo would cost £31,000 a day ($50,000). Now it is about £3,400 ($5,500).

 

[Theo]

Unreal.

 

[BidNo]

Holy cow!

 

[INFORG]

saw that a couple weeks ago - doesn't bode well for the economy. X-mas freight should already be moving. If you own retail stocks - sell, sell, sell.

 

[HarveyJ]

Is it really that amazing? They're just mothballing them until the economy picks up again.
They do the same thing for commercial airline fleets. Where do you think all the planes went after the airlines went broke? Places like this.

You think they're dumb enough to scrap ships that have an expected usage life of 50+ years? That'd be amazingly short sighted.
Give it 5-7 years, and most of those ships will be back in action.

 

[cleverlyslick]

you should see what they do with subway cars. (they say it's harmless for the ocean and fish though)

http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2008/08/large_reef.jpg

 

[Theo]

They do the same thing for commercial airline fleets. Where do you think all the planes went after the airlines went broke? Places like this.

These are military planes. Which reminded me of this haunting scene from "The best years of our lives". Filmed just 1 year after the end of WW2.

 

[jasdon11]

Is it really that amazing? They're just mothballing them until the economy picks up again.
They do the same thing for commercial airline fleets. Where do you think all the planes went after the airlines went broke? Places like this.

You think they're dumb enough to scrap ships that have an expected usage life of 50+ years? That'd be amazingly short sighted.
Give it 5-7 years, and most of those ships will be back in action.

That's true, but missing the point of the thread, which is, that this mothballing is a reflection of the current economy.

Shipping companies don't keep too many 'spare' ships, so not long ago these would have been used to capacity, and this is just one place; how many more around the world?

 

[draggar]

That article is quite disturbing but this only reflects 12% of the world's fleets. Newer ships with larger capacity, cars being built locally as opposed to overseas, smaller electronics and better packaging all can easily contribute to the lowered demand on ships (but the price figures are scary).

you should see what they do with subway cars. (they say it's harmless for the ocean and fish though)

http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2008/08/large_reef.jpg

Artificial reefs is nothing new. They remove anything that can contaminate the ocean - fuel, seats, rubber, oils, and so on so what is left is an empty shell which will quickly rust and then form an artificial reef to help promote sealife. Many will be come great dive spots in about 10 years.

Edit: If the article was written in late September 2009 - how come all of the comments are much older than that?

 

[HomerJ]

Is it really that amazing?

well i guess its not something you see everyday. hell, i'd never seen or thought of it ever before. i admit, i was amazed.

 

[JuniperPark]

saw that a couple weeks ago - doesn't bode well for the economy. X-mas freight should already be moving. If you own retail stocks - sell, sell, sell.

No.... X-mas freight is done by now, it should already be at distribution points and arriving in-store byt early Oct.