The Engines of the Largest Container Ships in the World (2018)

"in late 2016 Daewoo was caught in a massive accounting scandal. It was discovered that the firm, instead of being profitable, had accumulated dizzying losses in 2015 and 2016 of 6 trillion won ($4.8 billion). Only a direct government loan of US $2.6 billion in March 2017 allowed Daewoo to avoid bankruptcy."

It's really profoundly weird to me as a sociological phenomenon that a company can be as mismanaged as this implies, and yet, you know, build enormously complex ships that work.

I'm not saying this is particularly unique, among companies or industries. It's just, how can things be so broken at one level and still chug along at another? Physical machines usually catastrophically fail if some important component does, especially the control and feedback systems.

Where are such massive components made? How do you balance a crankshaft that’s a block long and takes up the space of a row of houses? Where are these monsters forged, cast, and built? It’s simply amazing.

(Edit: yeah, it’s in the article. Would love to see the process.)

It's said large ships use extremely dirty "bunker fuel" but I wonder how the emissions compare per ton transported to say, a semi tractor trailer or a delivery van.

These engines are modern marvels!