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The Supply Chain.....

Professionals study logistics. And there ain't many of them left in today's world...
I agree. I am a bit confused about the shift to rail cars and the movement away from truck transportation. Perhaps intermodal transportation is playing a part. Perhaps politics are playing a part as well.
 
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I agree. I am a bit confused about the shift to rail cars and the movement away from truck transportation. Perhaps intermodal transportation is playing a part. Perhaps politics are playing a part as well.
BB"s the new Green deal.trying to save the planet of greenhouse gasses..blahblahblah. bullshit fucking politics that is only going to hurt the trucking industry..wait they supported TRUMP...like trains don't put out gasses..horseshit.
 
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I agree. I am a bit confused about the shift to rail cars and the movement away from truck transportation. Perhaps intermodal transportation is playing a part. Perhaps politics are playing a part as well.

Rail is more efficient in terms of fuel per ton-mile, which will become increasingly interesting as we come out from a period of (relatively) low fuel prices. Also, truck drivers are scarce at this time. And then looking a bit further out, the trucking industry gets to look forward to another set of new emission control rules:

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Lots of headwinds against trucking at this time. I don't see any significant reduction in friction until/unless autonomous operation becomes commonplace.
 
All of this is true. However we are entrenched in the "Just in Time" supply chain. I have tracked some rail shipments over the years and was told my item was on a rail car that was on a spur track and could be there for a while due to weather, logistics, crew shortage, etc. With trains there will have to be storage facilities to take up for the surge or delays. Just kicking some thoughts around.
 
I was in the industry for 18 years, trains are used for mass movement of product and chemical / hazardous materials. Sensitive goods and JIT are shipped by truck.

The rail industry was dying and becoming obsolete as suppliers started to build around manufacturers, and manufacturers decreased on hand product for cost and tax relief. This current shift in transportation has to do with the Biden administration and his $upporters.
 
Intermodal logistics has been a significant 'thing' in the logistics world for about a decade now, and not just bringing consumer goods over from Asia.

Honestly, shipping by rail makes a LOT of sense for many types of goods, and in many markets...but you still need trucks to take shipping containers from the rail yard to whatever their destination is.

That said - looks like plenty of owner/operators are hauling Prime trailers around when everybody knows Daddy Bezos can afford WTF he wants; those operators would just as easily be hauling other goods if the pay was better.
 
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I was in the industry for 18 years, trains are used for mass movement of product and chemical / hazardous materials. Sensitive goods and JIT are shipped by truck.

The rail industry was dying and becoming obsolete as suppliers started to build around manufacturers, and manufacturers decreased on hand product for cost and tax relief. This current shift in transportation has to do with the Biden administration and his $upporters.
That connection has been brought to light:
 
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Rapidly...... Question: Is Elon Musk of today the Hank Rearden of Atlas Shrugged ?

No. If he goes away tomorrow, not much is lost. Ok, I gotta go back to using crappy DSL - that'd suck. People who buy his cars would need to find different ways to convince themselves that their own farts smell good. Twitter would be slightly more boring. I'd argue that someone like Bezos would have a far greater effect if they withdrew their contributions and services.

But the extent that the loss of any single executive can harm the economy is kinda limited in the modern world. There are, however, a few people at lower levels in various organizations who make shit happen every day. Go look around at a large regional distribution center; there are a small number of workers who, if they all decide not to show, will effectively shut down your local grocery store in a matter of several hours. Get enough of them to coordinate, and the country gets brought to its knees. Damn good thing that we've brainwashed the proles into thinking that they're powerless.
 
I was in the industry for 18 years, trains are used for mass movement of product and chemical / hazardous materials. Sensitive goods and JIT are shipped by truck.

The rail industry was dying and becoming obsolete as suppliers started to build around manufacturers, and manufacturers decreased on hand product for cost and tax relief. This current shift in transportation has to do with the Biden administration and his $upporters.
You mean like these trailers on rail cars? Seems that it's more cost efficient to transport this way and have local drivers for the final destinations.
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Ships, trains, trucks all work together. There are not ports or train tracks at every Walmart or storage facility. Many items we purchase have been on all three and been part of multiple truck loads.
 
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no way produce and food items can be shipped by rail. ive been hauling food products my whole life. we have 85 OTR trucks with teams on them. produce is packaged in the field and grocery store whse's normally dont keep more than 24 hrs worth of product per day. the wheels quit turning and big cities are screwed. wouldnt take long for it to fall apart.
 
Plus, by all reports there is a severe shortage of truck drivers. Oh, wait we are importing many from south of the border.
 
You know what they say, give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and then he has to buy a pole and lures and line, and then he gets a ticket for fishing on public land and has to take off work to go to court, gets community service and has to pick up trash at the lake where he would rather be fishing.
 
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Keep an eye on this so you can pretend not to be surprised in a month or two when the real supply-chain fun games begin:



On the other side of the Pacific, the nuke plant in Guangdong Province has re-joined the chat:

 
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A brilliant move to shut down containers being moved by rail from northern US pacific ports. These ports were the ones with the shortest wait time to offload vessels. Not sure what this hold will do to help anything more than to move the congestion west to the ports from Chicago.

Vessel space is hard to come by and 20K a pop and growing. Last month we started seeing freight carriers unable to make a rail connection at the port. Your only options are to cancel the container, which was a bitch to get, or ship it and plan to truck it from the west coast if trucking is available. Or pray a rail link will open up.

All this and we have not even gotten into the pre Christmas rush.
 
Taishan doesn’t really appear to be a near-term threat for external release of radioactivity.
 
Taishan doesn’t really appear to be a near-term threat for external release of radioactivity.

No, but if it does decide to go full-on China Syndrome (irony fully noted), then it would be catastrophic due to the number of factories and the amount of export traffic that originates in the area. Combine these consequences with China's lack of transparency, and it's something that merits consideration.
 
A brilliant move to shut down containers being moved by rail from northern US pacific ports. These ports were the ones with the shortest wait time to offload vessels. Not sure what this hold will do to help anything more than to move the congestion west to the ports from Chicago.

Vessel space is hard to come by and 20K a pop and growing. Last month we started seeing freight carriers unable to make a rail connection at the port. Your only options are to cancel the container, which was a bitch to get, or ship it and plan to truck it from the west coast if trucking is available. Or pray a rail link will open up.

All this and we have not even gotten into the pre Christmas rush.

There is no strategic thinking occurring right now. Complex systems were broken last year, the men running this stuff don't really understand how any of it works (the guys that did all got forced into retirement 10-15 years ago and things were running on momentum), and so now it's just a matter of tactical fire-fighting to contain the latest crisis.

Christmas is goin' be lit this year. And by that, I mean not lit at all. The seasonal light and decoration display at Menards will be kinda bare this fall.
 
No, but if it does decide to go full-on China Syndrome (irony fully noted), then it would be catastrophic due to the number of factories and the amount of export traffic that originates in the area. Combine these consequences with China's lack of transparency, and it's something that merits consideration.
Its proximity to Guangzhou, Shenzen and Hong Kong (all three manufacturing & air freight hubs, to say nothing of population centers) certainly would make an actual issue not just a local safety concern but a global economic catastrophe.

My understanding of reactors is admittedly limited, but noble gasses show an issue (in this case, a handful of damaged fuel rods) but don't seem to be an imminent threat to the local area unless there's a purposeful or accidental release.
 
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Its proximity to Guangzhou, Shenzen and Hong Kong (all three manufacturing & air freight hubs, to say nothing of population centers) certainly would make an actual issue not just a local safety concern but a global economic catastrophe.

My understanding of reactors is admittedly limited, but noble gasses show an issue (in this case, a handful of damaged fuel rods) but don't seem to be an imminent threat to the local area unless there's a purposeful or accidental release.

Agreed on all points, but the whole "damaged fuel rod" story is the same one we heard last month, and the simple fact that this continues to linger suggests that the problem may be more severe.

The good news is that the truth will eventually emerge. The bad news is that we might learn about it via a broad and deep shortage of almost every imaginable good.

Even if the plant doesn't pose a radiological risk, any loss of generation capacity could be problematic (especially combined with any loss of hydroelectric generation in that area).

Fun times, for sure. I hope everyone benefitted greatly from getting their Nike shoes at a modest discount over the past two decades.
 
It has been several months and many new developments since the last post. The world has changed. Here is a well written article from a man who is dealing, world wide, with supply logistics.
Think of America supplying LNG to Europe.
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We have entered a new era of global conflict. The free world can win. Growing our trade with one another and securing energy independence gives us greater economic and national security, peace, and prosperity.

Gregory R. Rusovich is CEO of Transoceanic Development.