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How many world's largest ships does it take

P

paulney

Diamond Member
The answer is...

Fifteen!!! :Q :Q :Q

just one of the world's largest container ships can emit about as much pollution as 50 million cars. Further, the 15 largest ships in the world emit as much nitrogen oxide and sulphur oxide as the world's 760 million cars.

The problem isn't necessarily with the ships' 109,000-horsepower engines that endlessly spin away 24 hours a day, 280 days a year. In fact, these powerplants are some of the most fuel efficient units in the world. The real issue lies with the heavy fuel oil the ships run on and the almost complete lack of regulations applied to the giant exhaust stacks of these container ships.
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Originally posted by: daniel1113
And yet people still think driving a Prius is going to have a measurable effect on the environment...
Click to expand...

So we should just say fuck it and drive Hummers?
Click to expand...

Fuck it, I'm taking a container ship to work.
 
Originally posted by: newb111
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Originally posted by: daniel1113
And yet people still think driving a Prius is going to have a measurable effect on the environment...
Click to expand...

So we should just say fuck it and drive Hummers?
Click to expand...

Fuck it, I'm taking a container ship to work.
Click to expand...

Mmmm... the traffic-crushing potential in this idea. :evil:
 
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Originally posted by: daniel1113
And yet people still think driving a Prius is going to have a measurable effect on the environment...
Click to expand...

So we should just say fuck it and drive Hummers?
Click to expand...

No. We should say "fuck it" and drive whatever we want because we realize that driving a car that gets a little better mileage is not going to have a meaningful positive effect on the environment.

And while the numbers presented in that article are in fact astounding, it doesn't really take into account just how much cargo those ships carry. The amount of cargo carried being equal, I'd guess these ships produce a significantly smaller amount of pollution than any other alternative, such as smaller ships or even a highway of trucks.
 
Originally posted by: daniel1113
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Originally posted by: daniel1113
And yet people still think driving a Prius is going to have a measurable effect on the environment...
Click to expand...

So we should just say fuck it and drive Hummers?
Click to expand...

No. We should say "fuck it" and drive whatever we want because we realize that driving a car that gets a little better mileage is not going to have a meaningful positive effect on the environment.

And while the numbers presented in that article are in fact astounding, it doesn't really take into account just how much cargo those ships carry. The amount of cargo carried being equal, I'd guess these ships produce a significantly smaller amount of pollution than any other alternative, such as smaller ships or even a highway of trucks.
Click to expand...

😕

So you actually believe that a single huge container ship could carry as much cargo as 50 million cars? They're big, but they're not THAT big.
 
Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
Originally posted by: daniel1113
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Originally posted by: daniel1113
And yet people still think driving a Prius is going to have a measurable effect on the environment...
Click to expand...

So we should just say fuck it and drive Hummers?
Click to expand...

No. We should say "fuck it" and drive whatever we want because we realize that driving a car that gets a little better mileage is not going to have a meaningful positive effect on the environment.

And while the numbers presented in that article are in fact astounding, it doesn't really take into account just how much cargo those ships carry. The amount of cargo carried being equal, I'd guess these ships produce a significantly smaller amount of pollution than any other alternative, such as smaller ships or even a highway of trucks.
Click to expand...

😕

So you actually believe that a single huge container ship could carry as much cargo as 50 million cars? They're big, but they're not THAT big.
Click to expand...

Not quite what I said. First, they don't really tell us the time period, but I'm guessing that is over the course of one year. So, you would have to calculate the total number of vehicles required to carry the same amount of cargo as one ship over the course of a year, and then determine the pollution generated while carrying an equivalent load. I'd still guess that at the end of it all, per pound of cargo carried, the ship wins.
 
Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
Originally posted by: daniel1113
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Originally posted by: daniel1113
And yet people still think driving a Prius is going to have a measurable effect on the environment...
Click to expand...

So we should just say fuck it and drive Hummers?
Click to expand...

No. We should say "fuck it" and drive whatever we want because we realize that driving a car that gets a little better mileage is not going to have a meaningful positive effect on the environment.

And while the numbers presented in that article are in fact astounding, it doesn't really take into account just how much cargo those ships carry. The amount of cargo carried being equal, I'd guess these ships produce a significantly smaller amount of pollution than any other alternative, such as smaller ships or even a highway of trucks.
Click to expand...

😕

So you actually believe that a single huge container ship could carry as much cargo as 50 million cars? They're big, but they're not THAT big.
Click to expand...

how bout on water ^_^
 
Originally posted by: daniel1113
Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
Originally posted by: daniel1113
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Originally posted by: daniel1113
And yet people still think driving a Prius is going to have a measurable effect on the environment...
Click to expand...

So we should just say fuck it and drive Hummers?
Click to expand...

No. We should say "fuck it" and drive whatever we want because we realize that driving a car that gets a little better mileage is not going to have a meaningful positive effect on the environment.

And while the numbers presented in that article are in fact astounding, it doesn't really take into account just how much cargo those ships carry. The amount of cargo carried being equal, I'd guess these ships produce a significantly smaller amount of pollution than any other alternative, such as smaller ships or even a highway of trucks.
Click to expand...

😕

So you actually believe that a single huge container ship could carry as much cargo as 50 million cars? They're big, but they're not THAT big.
Click to expand...

Not quite what I said. First, they don't really tell us the time period, but I'm guessing that is over the course of one year. So, you would have to calculate the total number of vehicles required to carry the same amount of cargo as one ship over the course of a year, and then determine the pollution generated while carrying an equivalent load. I'd still guess that at the end of it all, per pound of cargo carried, the ship wins.
Click to expand...

Well, the thing is there are multiple factors to consider:

- Environmental impact
- Fuel efficiency
- Cost

Since the fuel they use is highly polluting due to being unregulated, it causes the environmental impact to rise disproportionate to the other factors. So even a relatively fuel-efficient engine burning this cheap, dirty fuel will have a high environmental impact. But it's cheap.

Oh, and I did some math:

A single semi-trailer in the U.S. has a maximum gross weight (cargo + truck) of 80,000 lbs. Some quick Googling indicates that the weight of the truck itself is probably around 20,000 lbs, so we'll say 60,000 lbs for one truck.

The largest ship currently in service is the Emma Maersk, a container ship that can carry 156,907 metric tons.

60,000 lbs = 27.22 metric tons. Therefore, you'd only need 5,764 semi-trailers to equal the capacity of the world's largest active ship.

Obviously, there are other considerations such as the ability of a ship to travel overseas whereas trucks must stay on land, and the fact that a ship can operate with a crew of 20-30 while 5,764 trucks require 5,764 drivers, etc. But there's no way the ship pollutes less if it really does pollute as much as 50 million cars. Now if you look at cost, that's probably less for the ship.

I'm quite sure that trains are the cheapest AND the most environmentally friendly way of moving freight, but they obviously have their own limitations. It would be interesting to compare cargo planes to ships since they are the only other vehicles that can move lots of cargo across oceans. I'm sure they're hugely more expensive than ships, but pollution-wise, I'd again express my doubts.

P.S. You may be confused about how they're expressing pollution. I'm guessing they're talking about it in rates. They say that a ship pollutes as much as 50 million cars. They didn't say anything about time periods. It's a rate, so it applies whether you're talking about 1 year or 1 day.
 
Yeah, I may very well be wrong. Now that you've started doing the math, I think I should try myself. Give me a little time to do some research (and finish eating dinner) and I'll report my findings.
 

It could be that they calculated the contaminates that are being dumped into the ocean via ballast water. Canada/US have recently regulates ballast water treatment and coastal ballast water dumping, however shipping offenders regularly discharge contaminated ballast water in our coastal water due to poor legislation watch dogs.
 
The article helps debunk the idea that all our cars are destroying the environment which is what some people seem to think. We have 15 cargo ships that equal the entire output of our stupid little cars. What percent of total pollution do cars put out? 5%? 10%? Yeah, we better spend billions of dollars trying to get more hybrids on the road.
 
Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
Well, the thing is there are multiple factors to consider:

- Environmental impact
- Fuel efficiency
- Cost

Since the fuel they use is highly polluting due to being unregulated, it causes the environmental impact to rise disproportionate to the other factors. So even a relatively fuel-efficient engine burning this cheap, dirty fuel will have a high environmental impact. But it's cheap.

Oh, and I did some math:

A single semi-trailer in the U.S. has a maximum gross weight (cargo + truck) of 80,000 lbs. Some quick Googling indicates that the weight of the truck itself is probably around 20,000 lbs, so we'll say 60,000 lbs for one truck.

The largest ship currently in service is the Emma Maersk, a container ship that can carry 156,907 metric tons.

60,000 lbs = 27.22 metric tons. Therefore, you'd only need 5,764 semi-trailers to equal the capacity of the world's largest active ship.

Obviously, there are other considerations such as the ability of a ship to travel overseas whereas trucks must stay on land, and the fact that a ship can operate with a crew of 20-30 while 5,764 trucks require 5,764 drivers, etc. But there's no way the ship pollutes less if it really does pollute as much as 50 million cars. Now if you look at cost, that's probably less for the ship.

I'm quite sure that trains are the cheapest AND the most environmentally friendly way of moving freight, but they obviously have their own limitations. It would be interesting to compare cargo planes to ships since they are the only other vehicles that can move lots of cargo across oceans. I'm sure they're hugely more expensive than ships, but pollution-wise, I'd again express my doubts.

P.S. You may be confused about how they're expressing pollution. I'm guessing they're talking about it in rates. They say that a ship pollutes as much as 50 million cars. They didn't say anything about time periods. It's a rate, so it applies whether you're talking about 1 year or 1 day.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind a ship runs 24/7 while the average car is maybe an hour per day(?). And a semi would be something like 10. These are all just guesses.
 
Originally posted by: Insomniator
The article helps debunk the idea that all our cars are destroying the environment which is what some people seem to think. We have 15 cargo ships that equal the entire output of our stupid little cars. What percent of total pollution do cars put out? 5%? 10%? Yeah, we better spend billions of dollars trying to get more hybrids on the road.
Click to expand...

Don't forget cow farts.
 
Originally posted by: daniel1113

No. We should say "fuck it" and drive whatever we want
Click to expand...

So you can't already drive what you want?

People who drive the Prius don't want to drive them?

If it would mean telling the Arabs (OPEC more in point) to shove their oil up their ass, bring on the Prius baby! 😀


Oh, and haul all the shit by train. Even the commercial states that CSX can carry 1 ton of cargo 423 miles using 1 gallon of fuel! 😛

See!
 
That's it, I'm going to start driving a flying aircraft carrier like SHIELD. It's going to have a support convoy of 2 flying nuclear submarines and 4 flying battleships. To round it up I'll get 3 container ship blimps for refueling.
 
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Originally posted by: daniel1113
And yet people still think driving a Prius is going to have a measurable effect on the environment...
Click to expand...

So we should just say fuck it and drive Hummers?
Click to expand...

That depends, are we shipping Prius' en masse across the ocean in container ships because we threw away a perfectly good Hummer?
 
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