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Comment by Thorrez | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure about how they solve customs, but the picture shows an airship dropping cargo directly off at a warehouse (avoiding trucks).

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I guarantee that's not going to be a viable option. No nation, especially China or the USA, is going to allow an aircraft free access to land unknown cargo at a random warehouse without going through customs. It's going to have to land at some kind of airfield just like a cargo plane would.

Next article: Transparent Airships Are Happening

I am not sure what US law on the matter is, but many countries have what are known as "bonded warehouses", which store uncleared goods within the destination country. Are you a customs expert? If so, please comment on whether the US has an equivalent.

There's also 'free trade' areas within China that allow transfer without import and export tax and other innovations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Free-Trade_Zone

Not a customs expert, but a short research suggests bonded warehouses do indeed exist in the United States: https://openjurist.org/title-19/us-code/section-1311/bonded-...

I mean, the US just lets Chinese spy balloons wander aimlessly through its airspace :-P

Gotta give those F-22s target practice to keep their bloodlust sated. Otherwise they start snacking on commercial traffic and that can get real awkward real fast.

> but the picture shows an airship dropping cargo directly off at a warehouse

Yeah, and that shit isn't going to happen either for a bazillion $very_good_reasons.

Not least safety.

I mean, yeah, let's just turn up at a densely populated environment and use a winch to long-line drop a few tons of cargo.

Whilst the general public and employees are walking around the place ?

When there's overhead cabling around ?

Even in perfect weather, with no wind, no rain, its still a dumb-as-shit idea.

Yeah, doesn't it kida turn anything under it into a heavy cargo crane safety zone ? Like, you not let people walk at random under suspended loads & thats what a loading/unloading operation for this turns into.

Drones for end customers make more sense then

How will the airship and its cargo clear customs at a random warehouse with presumably no staffing of border agents?

Maybe it's still a customs/border facility. It can just be inland now, away from the very expensive waterfront/costal property

Would that inland facility still have a 100 mile jurisdiction boundary around it as well?

Yes, of course, with a grid of these facilities across the country.

the reason that property is so expensive is because that's where the people are. There's no point in avoiding the biggest cost of air freight - getting goods to consumers who don't live near the limited freight hubs, if you land it in the middle of nowhere and now need to ship by rail or truck AND last mile delivery

There are lots of people inland and away from sea ports. Many hubs of industry (such as Wisconsin which makes many mechanics' tools) could take advantage of this if it were available.

Not that I put any credence into the idea in the article, but for your particular question, the same way it occurs now at airports - bonded warehouses.

Which airports have bonded warehouses but do not already host customs facilities or agents?

I think that has to come after, not before.

I don't know if you're aware, but bonded warehouses are customs facilities. The vast majority of goods never pass through a Government customs facility.

In which countries are they legally identical, or even mostly identical, to the customs facilities commonly found in international airports?

I am not the parent, but they did not say bonded warehouses were identical to government customs facilities at airports.

>"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Hence why I also said ‘or even mostly identical’?

If it’s only vaguely similar in fact, then that seems hardly convincing.

Implementation details /s

Easy, put it on a starship instead, and fire it off like a ballistic missile at the target warehouse.

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