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Comment by jedberg | Hacker News Reader

I understood about 1/2 the phrases in this article. Can someone who is familiar with shipping terms tell me what Panamax strings are?

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A string is just a multi-hop service/route, like Hong Kong -> Panama -> New York -> Norfolk -> Savannah -> Panama -> Hong Kong. Somewhat like a 'flight' for airlines.

From 'Dictionary of Shipping Terms' by Peter Brodie [1]:

String:

> Service offered by a shipping line involving several vessels performing outward and return voyages between ports in two distinct geographic or commercial areas. Also referred to as a 'service string' or 'string of vessels'

[1] https://books.google.com/books?id=sRqk-NfgEY0C

Just a nit, but extremely unlikely they would stop in 2 US ports due to Jones act:

"requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents."

Not a lot of those so US port to port is run a bit different. Basically Hawaii and Alaska.

But they do, and some specifically offer US flag vessels on certain routes. However, like you said, the Jones Act only applies to US-to-US shipments, whereas most cargo is coming and going from overseas -- so it's typically a non-issue.

Here's some actual schedules showing real routes calling at multiple US ports:

[1] http://www.cosco-usa.com/fpdb/Services/schedules.aspx [2] PDF: http://www.hamburgsud-line.com/hsdg/media/hamburgsd/document... [3] PDF: https://www.msc.com/getattachment/dfebb208-935e-4060-b0c7-a5...

so it's typically a non-issue— unless you live in Puerto Rico.

http://www.globaltrademag.com/global-trade-daily/news/legisl...

used to work for a container shipper, there is absolutely zero intra-US transportation via container vessels. The multiple US port calls in a string such as NY - NFK - SAV are discharge - discharge - load or something of the variant. its not picking up containers at NY and discharging same containers in SAV.

besides, I can't think of any use-cases where container shipping within US would be sensible. US company supply chains aren't designed in a way where procurement activities are dispersed and could benefit from intra-US container shipping. unless someone can think of a company?

another note: IIRC theres a lot of traffic that discharges at LA and rails to HOU. even with the expanded canal, this is the most cost efficient way to get cargo from asia to houston. trans-pacific vessels are > 10k TEU so if a supplier wanted to go through panama canal, you'd have to use smaller trans-pacific vessel which would raise shippers unit cost thus raising the suppliers cost. if you're a company that relies heavily on asian imports, your facilities are typically located on the west coast to avoid extra transportation cost anyway.

i don't think this news is that impactful

The rules can be satisfied so long as you're careful. Airlines do this routinely; Qantas, for example, flies New York (JFK) to Sydney, with a stop in Los Angeles. But you can only buy the ticket New York-Sydney or LA-Sydney, not New York-LA, and this is why. So long as anything or anyone you deliver originated at a port outside the US, or you only ever pick up at ports in the US and never drop off, you're on the right side of the cabotage rules.

That sounds like a giant waste. There must be many empty seats New York-LA, at least one for each passenger flying LA-Sydney.

Qantas can't do much about this at the moment. Their current widebody fleet consists of:

* Airbus A330-200, maximum range 8,360mi.

* Airbus A330-300, maximum range 7,300mi.

* Airbus A380-800, maximum range 9,400mi.

* Boeing 747-400, maximum range 8,350mi.

* Boeing 747-400ER, maximum range 8,820mi.

But the great-circle distance JFK-SYD is 9,950mi. It was only recently that they were able to start DFW-SYD as a nonstop with the A380; the 747s used previously had to make a stop in Brisbane. And once it went nonstop, it was the longest regularly-scheduled commercial airline flight in the world until March of this year, when Emirates began flying nonstop from Dubai to Auckland.

Currently, Qantas is said to be evaluating the next-generation 777 variants for possible nonstop service to and from New York, but until then they'll have to make a stop somewhere. They have the same issue in the other direction, too: they partner with Emirates so they can use Dubai as a halfway point for their flights to and from Europe.

Panamax ships are the absolute maximum size of ship the Panama Canal can handle (eg: PANAma canal MAXimum). [0]

Edit: Obviously, the canal is now larger. So Panamax in this case refers to ships that maxed out the old maximum size.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panamax

And they really mean "absolute max". See these pictures of Panamax ships being carefully squeezed through the locks.[1]

The original two lock lanes were built in 1917, and they were built big for the time. But bigger ships are now available and won't fit. So the Panama Canal Authority just finished a third lock lane, with longer, wider, and deeper locks, for larger ships.[2] There were problems with the new construction, including serious leaks in the concrete. But the new locks open for business in 10 days.

Here's good drone imagery of the new locks being used by a ship for the first test run.[3]

If you're really into this, here's a video of the basic operational procedures for using the new locks.[4] A maximum sized, fully loaded container ship pays about $1M in tolls for each transit. That's about $85 per container. There's a loyalty program for regular customers, with discounts.

[1] http://www.canalmuseum.com/canalphotos/panamax.htm [2] http://micanaldepanama.com/expansion/ [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA2TyFxbH9Q [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrQrKAku3e0

One thing that baffles me is the fact that ok, the third lane is bigger; but it's one lane vs the existing two. If everyone started using only New Panamax ships, they would effectively cut in half the number of ships that can go through (and would likely have congestion issues because of alternating directions of travel). Just to balance that, new ships should have 100% more capacity, but spec numbers look 50% bigger at best.

Is there a plan to enlarge at least one of the existing lanes, once the new lane is open?

That was a great video, really awesome scale of engineering here.

I love how it refers to the "high mast lighting" [1] as "high mast lightNing" in both the speech and on-screen text.

I guess they're not all native speakers (neither am I, to be clear). It's kind of a "honey pot" in English that I somehow tend to be sensitive to. :)

[1] http://s-steel.com/3755-2/

One of the other things the new locks do is try to save water. The lake at the center of Panama is at a higher elevation than the ocean on either side - each time the locks are cycled water flows from the lake to the oceans.

The water in the lake is only refilled during Panama's rainy season, and drought conditions in recent years have on occasion made it necessary to put restrictions on the ships transiting the system.[1]

Those huge basins next to the new locks in the video are a water cycling system. They aim to capture a significant percentage of the water as they cycle the locks and then re-use it, rather than just draining the lakes.

[1] http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/panama-canal-re...

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