Everything is Logistics
A podcast for the thinkers in freight. Everything is Logistics is hosted by Blythe Brumleve and we're telling the stories behind how your favorite stuff (and people!) get from point A to B.
Industry topics include freight, logistics, transportation, maritime, warehousing, intermodal, and trucking along with the intersection of technology and marketing within the industry.
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Everything is Logistics
Underrated Modes of Shipping: Tugs, Barges, and Canals
Ever wondered how that giant TV made its way to your living room? Spoiler alert: it might've hitched a ride on a barge! In this episode of "Everything is Logistics," Blythe dives into the unsung heroes of shipping: tugboats, barges, and canals.
Teaming up with Grace Sharkey, they're exploring the ins and outs of these often-overlooked workhorses of the waterways, revealing their crucial role in global transportation.
Links:
- Grace’s Linktree
- Tugboat mug on Everything is Logistics
- Freight Friends: Tugboats, Barges, and Uber Freight’s Carrier Summit Recap
- Freight Friends: Space Logistics, Shipping Canals, and Fighting Food Fraud in our Supply Chain
Feedback? Ideas for a future episode? Shoot us a text here to let us know.
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Welcome into another episode of everything is logistics, a podcast for the thinkers in freight. I am your host, Blythe Brumleve, and we are presented by SPI logistics. And in this episode, we're going to be featuring a couple segments about underrated modes of shipping. What are underrated modes of shipping. Well, if you read the title of the episode, you probably already know that it's tugboats, barges and canals. And in this episode, we're going to be featuring those different modes of shipping, because they're referenced regularly throughout our industry. But in this conversation, Grace Sharkey and I are going to be exploring the who, the what, the why, the where in the how. So let's first talk tugboats in barges. Now let's get into a little bit of the unsung modes in freight. Now, I wanted to bring this up because I love tugboats. I thought, you know, I had this story idea that I wanted to do something on, like the cute boats. And I was like, well, majority male audience, they probably don't care about a show that's tied with, like, cute boats. So let's, let's go with unsung modes in freight. And what brought this like to the top of my attention again, is that, obviously, that that the big cargo ship that obviously ran into the bridge and bought the key the key bridge in Baltimore, caused the bridge to collapse, but they were finally able to have a controlled demolition in order to bring down, you know, parts of the bridge that Were holding the big cargo ship in place number one. I am a number one fan of salmer carliano, just throwing that out there again, just in case anybody needed a reminder. But his YouTube channel is, I'd love, well not love when stuff like major events happen around the globe, like Sal is the first one to like jump on and make a story about it. And he just it's so he is such a lesson in content marketing and how this man went literally from like a firefighter, former merchant mariner, college professor. He still does those jobs as well. Of he's the only former job is the former merchant mariner. He's still a college professor, still does like play by play for Campbell University, professor at the damn University, too, but he is now a super popular YouTuber who has close to 300,000
Unknown:subscribers, I
Blythe Brumleve:believe, YouTube, which is insane. I was on one of my like regular sort of news, you know, channels the other day that I watched regularly, breaking points and all in the comments is you should get this channel on, what's going on with shipping. You should have him on, because he'll be able to talk about the pier in Gaza that is. That's a hot mess going on over there. The construction of it is a hot mess anyways. So that was a little like a sidebar there. But Sal is like the first to put out information, just anything that's going on with, like, major shipping stories all around the globe. He really has become, like, in just a short amount of time, like the go to source for a lot of these global events that are happening. Well, one of those events is obviously the Keystone bridge. And so a big part of that, after the controlled demolition, is moving the cargo ship back to port, where they can finally get those people, get the merchant mariners off of that damn cargo ship, get whatever cargo is salvageable, that that's still on that ship. And what plays a huge role in that is tugboats. And so I was like, Oh, this is the perfect opportunity to cover tugboats in this show. And I said, Well, we also have to cover the other sort of cute boats and unsung heroes, or unsung modes and freight. And so the way this is going to kind of work is I'm going to talk about tugboats, and then you're going to talk about barges, and then we're going to kind of marry these two mighty, mighty modes of unsung, I guess, freight, I guess, how else to really put this, what was your familiarity with tugboats? Lots of familiarity. Or like, Oh, you just kind of noticed them. And you know, what is your, I guess, knowledge level of tugboats.
Grace Sharkey:So interestingly, bringing that up, I would say from very low level, I spent a lot of time on Lake Michigan, so we see a lot of barges going across like Michigan throughout the day, especially if you're just hanging out by the lake for hours on end, and a lot of times those are being pulled by tugboats in particular. So that's one of course, seen dredgers with tugboats too. And then what I feel like there's like a child story about tugboats or something. Maybe I'm. Wrong, but that's like coming to mind. But that's very little information there. I will say, though, recently there was a company that I did get a chance to write about who was working on, like tugboat visibility and like being able to capture the network of like tugboat, yeah, I'll, as you go through this, I'll try to find that really quick and see who that was, but it's when you say unsung. I think, yeah, 100% it's one of those. It's like, kind of reminds me of, like, pilot cars, right? It's like, people don't really can think about the importance of their role and, like, oversized movements as well, but they have a really, really interesting responsibility, too. So that's kind of where my we're not doing any research. Was limited to
Blythe Brumleve:like, base level, because they are really like that the title of this segment like unsung heroes, because they really are called, in my research for this. They're called the backbone of the shipping industry, because shipping experts believe that tugboats to be a vital piece into smooth port operations. I could go through, like, the history of it, but, you know, sort of too long. Didn't read or watch really. Got started early 1900s they were steam powered at first, but now they're, they're trying to, they're mostly diesel powered now, but then they're also trying to move into like the EV world. There are some EVs that are in the tugboat space as well, and that the thing to keep in mind with tugboats is that they're extremely powerful. They're essentially like just all all power, and they're the worst ones responsible. And the reason why I bring up the the Baltimore Key Bridge incident is, or the accident that happened is because, in order to move that cargo ship from that location, you have to use tugboats. And a big piece of why, the the the accident happened in the first place is because of a lack of tugboats within that that port control that port area. So that's the reason why I had this graphic up from from Sal. That Sal tweeted out is that the tugboat is like an essential piece for helping to get that cargo ship and steer it in the right direction to get to the port that it needs in order to take care of that business and take care of, you know, just the getting the cargo off, getting the crew members off, and it's, I'm gonna play this video really quick, because it's, it's super cool just to I have a whole new appreciation for tugboats. So hopefully you guys and I'll play about a minute and a half of this video from interesting engineering.
Unknown:Tugboats maneuver vessels through the tightest spaces, such as a narrow canal or crowded harbor. But don't be fooled by their size. They're powerful enough to move vessels up to 1000 times bigger. Here's how the first thing to note about tugboats is that they are practically all engine these diminutive boats sport diesel engines of up to 3400 horsepower. That gives the average harbor boat an insane weight to power ratio a whopping 9.5 compared to the 1.2 of the cargo ships they pull. These engines can power up to three propellers acting in tandem, generating massive amounts of thrust for the small boat. This thrust is the force that generates a tugboat's bollard pull, the theoretical maximum amount of force it can exert on a pulled object, while most tugboats are able to exert 110 tons of bollard pull. Recent technological developments have allowed the construction of the island victory, which sports a bollard pull of 526 tons. But it isn't just their engines that allow them to do what they do so well. Tugboats also need to have extreme maneuverability, which is achieved through a sophisticated system of rudders and nozzles. Their overall design is also a big contributing factor to how much they can pull. Tugboats feature heavy displacement hulls, which allow them to dig into the water, creating more friction, which means a greater bollard pull.
Blythe Brumleve:Yeah. So that is, like, you know, sort of like the backstory of tugboats, and you know how they not, I mean, kind of the backstory, but just the more or less, like their power and the the jobs that they more most likely take over in essentially any port, like I've heard after this, this Baltimore Key Bridge accident, that there are calls from, like John Conrad from, from G captain, for example, that thinks that tugboats should be at every single port in the country, just to be able to help avoid accidents from happening like that in the future, and just to be able to use them in tandem with making port operations much more efficient. So there was a couple other key facts here. They said that they can operate so. Or as a team to help the mega ships move through a port or canal. If you're looking at the screen right now, you can see two tugboats in action, and so they work together in order to help tackle some of these bigger cargo ships, which seem to really only get bigger year. Yeah, like many cities, like year after year, they're just getting bigger and bigger. They will also push more than they tow, which is why you see them run right up next to a big cargo ship and push it in the direction that it needs to go. A lot of the construction around a tugboat is really made of like rubber. So in the in the video that we just saw, you see a bunch of tires sort of on the side of the boat. And that is that's by design, so that it's not just that those pieces of rubber, but the actual whole of the ship can a lot of times, be made out of rubber as well. They help put out fires at sea. They help icebreakers through tough Arctic routes. And like what you see in the dolly situation, which is what the dolly ship is the one that was crippled underneath the Baltimore Key Bridge. It helps it to get to safe land. And now there are also some I mentioned earlier. There are also some extra efforts to electrify tugboats, which kind of has a similar debate compared to trucking, which I thought was interesting, because there's a lot of like tugboat captains that have their own YouTube channel, and it's very similar to drivers that have their own YouTube channel, and, you know, 1000s and 1000s of followers, and they start to talk about, you know, the the day in the life of a tugboat captain. There was a really great video that Vice released where they sent, like, this nerdy little writer. They called him the tugboat guys that are working on that actual boat. We're calling them, like, making fun of them come like Egon from, from Ghostbusters, in case you want a visual. And then he shows up to a place where it's like a marina with, like, super, you know, tough guys that are working probably 15 hours every day, doing hard labor. And then, you know, you got a guy like Egon that shows up and, you know, wants to, know, wants to do a story on a day in the life of a tugboat captain. And so it was really interesting to see the dynamics between the two, that the community is really strong among tugboats, like the the the crew that works on them, and also within trucking as well. But back to the electrification, because in that video that we just watched, the power is the most important part. And so the theory is kind of, you know, where you have some tugboats that that when they need the the big power, then they're just going to use those tugboats for for diesel operations. But then other ones you could might work in tandem, where it's maybe not just two, but it's three of them, and one of them is electrified. The trouble is, is that the EV's gotta be able to match the diesel power. It's not quite there yet, but there are some opportunities that you could work in, maybe smaller ports, or work in tandem. Like I said, there was also another company, which I thought was kind of cool, because you we mentioned, you know, with the rubber around a tugboat and how they have to attach a line to the cargo ship. And the tugboat itself is a lot of times made out of rubber, but connecting to the cargo ship, that's where, like, the most danger happens, the most dangerous activities and but there is a company called co tug that is based out of Europe that is trying to change that, where they use a instead of a tugboat going directly up to the to the big cargo ship in order to catch the line, or To get the line from either or what they're doing is they are taking a drone instead and taking the line from a tugboat and flying it over to the cargo ship. So let me I'm going to play this video really quick. This video comes from Delft dynamics, and it's about the CO tug system. Mm, them.
Unknown:Kotak is a leading towage operator offering its innovative services to ports and terminals on a global scale, in its ambition to achieve safer and more efficient working conditions, Kotak invented a way to ensure safety while connecting the tow line. Conventionally, tugboat captains maneuver close to the assisted vessel to be able to grab the messenger line from the assisted vessel's crew. Often, even under the bow or in the turbulent a minor floor in the maneuvering can result in major damage or injuries of the deck crew of both the tugboat and the assisted ship. Tota is the first tugboat company that uses drone technology with object recognition software to deliver a messenger line to a predetermined location, thus insert. Of picking up the messenger line of the assisted ship. The line will be brought to the ship. This allows to sail beside the assisted ship instead of in front or straight after her. Yeah, with this technology, a safer way of connecting towing lines is achieved, not only two sea vessels, but also when assisting rig moves platforms and dragging pontoons, this innovation is again a step forward in the continuous pursuit of safer tug operations.
Grace Sharkey:Well, talk about like a no brainer that you're surprised it wasn't fixed yet, right? And it's scary. Like, the boat's like, basically sucked into the other boat, and they're like, aim, well, it's like, if you're watching, like, below, decorate like they have to do that when they come in. They have to, like, throw, and if they're off, like, you know, Captain Lee's like, not gonna be happy about it, because they have to basically screw. They have to, like, back up all the way we can do that with that big of a Oh, like, well,
Blythe Brumleve:it's also a lot of danger that happens with that. That Vice video that I mentioned, they the the deck hand, who was also the writer, was getting yelled at, like, constantly because of the way that he was holding the rope, and the guy was like, he was like, if I see you do this again, he's like, I'm gonna slap your hand and I'm gonna do it every single time, because I would rather slap your hand and make that muscle memory than for you to lose your fingers. Because it can happen just so quickly with a lot of these, you know, just just being on a boat in in general, like, there's a lot of issues that can happen. But when you're on a boat all day, every day, like you are increasing those chances of some kind of an issue happening. So there's one more thing that I did want to share, because I don't know that I've talked about it on here before, but I did start a merch store for everything. Is logistics podcast. Oh yes, I made this cutest little mug that I already ordered for myself. So it's called a tugboat respecter. It's cute little tugboat right on on the front of it,
Grace Sharkey:American too.
Blythe Brumleve:Hopefully, you know, people would like it as much as I did, because I already ordered one for myself. So if you're looking for something like that. I'll put a link to it in the comments, just in case. You know, you want to, you want to. You're now a tugboat respecter as well. So that is sort of my, my tugboat fandom in a nutshell. So Grace, I think it now it's time for you to talk about barges.
Grace Sharkey:Well, you know, before we get into that, because I did find that I sent you, I just sent you a YouTube video. If you want to pop that open really quick, there is so there was a com, i knew i What did I write about this? You know, February. Okay, cool. So not too long ago, um, this was actually, I like to a lot of times people come to me with stories. But, like, once a week, I try to find a story that no one's like railing about that. I think it's really cool. And this one captured me. This was like, again, in February, they raised$3.1 million and their their job is just to bring more visibility and create a marketplace for for tugs. And it looks like they just came out with a barge one too. So what a great transition. If you want to play like, probably the first minute of the video. Should be a good idea of exactly kind of what he's doing, too.
Blythe Brumleve:Oh, and they're at a plug and play event. So shout out to shout out to plug and play. Yeah,
Grace Sharkey:shout out to your time on the show. Yeah, exactly.
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Unknown:CEO co founder of open tug. And we're improving the efficiency of freight transportation by improving access to inland and coastal waterways. So if you look at freight as a whole and logistics as a whole, most modes have been making transportation easier, a lot of digitization and trucking, international container freight, rail and even air cargo as well. But looking at waterways as a whole, domestic waterways, bulk and break bulk transportation is still fairly difficult to access. Most of the sales processes are very manual. You gotta talk to a lot of people, depending on what's doing. You may be coordinating across three, four. Five six different parties, each of which you have to communicate individually, depending on your use case. And that creates a really high barrier of entry for shippers. And if you know the industry, great, but if not, there's a lot of complication there, and it's difficult to access, which constrains the efficiency of the industry as a whole. So we simplify that. We're the first digital marketplace to connect bulk and break bulk shippers with transportation and terminal capacity. Customers simply search for their requirements, their destinations or cargo and their timeline. They book that shipment and they track it to their destination. That's not something that's normally accessible with the technology stack of existing domestic and inland coastal maritime organization. So we streamline sales for these operators by providing them a modern SaaS platform for their sales and customer management. So this includes
Grace Sharkey:take my money
Unknown:portal, instant proposal generation, as well as automated tracking and play sauce that's coming through us through our marketplace or their existing customers and their existing channels as well. So our marketplace launched in q1 of 2023 we saw over 3 million tons of cargo requested through it for the year. And we have hundreds of service providers that list their services, provide quotes and interact with our customers. And I think these are all q3 numbers. So it's grown since that. And then our SaaS tools power some of the largest companies in the industry. Oh, Jack Spartan, McDonnell, hey, yeah, CLG, formerly float freight and many others, port of Pittsburgh, port of Jacksonville, as you see here, and we're growing that every single day.
Grace Sharkey:That's super cool. Yeah, right. Like, talk
Blythe Brumleve:for shippers. I just pulled up their their website. Open tug is free for shippers. Wow, that's awesome. And so if you click on their website, like, it literally just, like, pulls up, hopefully, yeah, you can see it kind of went in. We're just going to do a live demo.
Grace Sharkey:Oh, the spot. Open tug. No, I love this. No, it's, it is interesting too, because it's like all this data is available. One of my favorite sites to use when I aim on the lakes is this site called boatner.com and it's, it's just all AIS data. So it's not hard to brought to you by marine traffic, brought to you by P 44 I guess. So, you know it all. It all trickles down somewhere, doesn't it yet, but it's, I think it's cool. I mean, it's a different type of of marketplace that, if and anything, I think is probably even more difficult to to find connections for right? Especially if you're going into, I mean, he's 100% right. You probably, if you're a ship liner, and you're going into a certain type of water where your system is probably someone you've always used. And whenever we talk about someone you've always used, that means, price wise, you're probably paying a premium price. And he's right, the bear of entry. Entry would be difficult to get in there if you did want to open up your own tug situation or or own a barge line or something like that. So I just think it's interesting. It's a It's again, like, this is a huge people don't talk about this type of mode when you talk about bringing goods into United States. Wow,
Blythe Brumleve:wow. If you're listening, we are. We are currently open tugs website and just clicking around and photos
Grace Sharkey:of boats like, that's my favorite too. Is like, yeah, look, see, look, do you need a hopper, which we're talking about barges, perfect transition that's going to be for all of your grains and all of your hopper bulk related needs.
Blythe Brumleve:It's so cool that you can see all of this. Visualize. I didn't know that, because, from what I understand, and especially, you know, doing like the tug research is like it, it really is like, who you know, like is, yeah, completely relationship driven. I would be curious to know, like, how many like? It doesn't sound like there's, like, a load board for barges like, you just got to know somebody in order to get your your stuff shipped, especially on, on the inland waterways, which, if you're, you're looking at the map, you know, the the Mississippi River that flows through Louisiana and then has all these different waterways that go throughout, you know, the central part of the United States. It's arguably inland waterways are arguably one of the, the biggest geographic advantages of the United States. Just watched a video on that the other day. I
Grace Sharkey:love that quote. Yeah, sure. Well,
Blythe Brumleve:France owned. France owned like the middle part of America. And when I was looking at this map, at one point, obviously France owned, you know, the middle part of America before the Louisiana Purchase. But it looked like France only owned that part because of the inland waterways from the. Sissippi river that dumps out into the Gulf, up throughout, you know, the central and sort of, you know, towards the Western like Montana, North Dakota areas. But yeah, they owned all of that land. And then when Britain and France went to war, Napoleon couldn't fight a war in the United States in order to keep the Louisiana Purchase. And so that's why he needed the money to fight the war against Britain. And so that's why they sold the Louisiana Purchase to the United States. And you know, the rest is kind of history. So it's, it's not a good
Grace Sharkey:history at all times, but definitely a history there.
Blythe Brumleve:Well, let's, let's get into the barge talk. Let's talk about barges.
Grace Sharkey:Yeah, actually, don't leave this page. Can you go back to that? Because I think that actually will help a little bit. So especially visualize a little bit more of the good old barges themselves. So in that first photo, and clearly, if you, if you've you've probably seen these again in inland waterways. If you're surrounded by great lakes, like myself, you've seen a number of these. They're a lot of what you usually see pulled around, clearly, not always moving container ships inland. And honestly, I don't think a lot of our inland waterways could take those ships to begin with. So barges in particular, here's some fun facts for you. So first thing, they're they're mostly flat, and they're the opposite of tugboats. They don't have a motor or an engine that's they're just kind of, they're floating, and if anything, they need some type of tow boat or tugboat attached to it to get them moving from there. And I think that's why, you know, they're absolutely flat, which helps them navigate a lot of these waterways so they don't get stuck, or they don't get a hit anything as they're going through they're used a lot of what you usually see moving around is the hopper style or the bulk types right there that we talked about earlier. We saw a couple of those this week, and myself, there are a number of different types of barges, and they can measure is up to larger specials, measure up to about 200 feet long, can hold over 3000 tons of cargo as well. And the ones that you see in the seaports, the ones that are ocean barges, definitely hold more than that. Majority, though, are inland barges. And again, they're for more of those small bodies of water, cost effective. Can move a lot in the little space, and a lot of them are used, actually, for oversized loads as well. So if you're moving turbines or things of that nature, you'll see a lot there. Basically, if this thing can't fit on a truck or a rail car. Then they're probably on a barge. There's also the deck barges, which is usually more like construction equipment, natural rock, stone, large pieces of metal. A lot of times they even move livestock on those two. Um, yeah, I'm trying to see if you if I see an inland one on there. But those ones are going to be usually just like the flat, perfect. There we go. That's that one in particular is called a deck barge. Yep, just again, flat for equipment. A lot of times too, you'll see deck barges used, apparently as like dry land for waterway working. So it's interesting, actually, they're finishing up the new how Gordie Howe bridge here in Detroit. So we'll have two bridges now in Detroit crossing over to Canada. And there's a deck bridge there that they use is kind of like a surface in the middle of the Detroit River to help build that brokering
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Grace Sharkey:There's also the hopper Hopper barges. We went over those. Those are the ones that move more of like green and bulk loads. There's shale barges, and so those are used for more of the oil and gas industry. They look kind of like the deck barges, but they'll usually, it's still like a little bit taller, some kind of way to explain it. Those are apparently highly regulated, though, by the US Coast Guard too. So a lot of times they'll, they'll help pull. Pull those there are then a liquid mud barges, those have pipes and pumps on board to help circulate and dispose of fluid, typically use more in like inland oil drilling sites. So the ones that you're likely seeing with your on a lake or you're sitting near a large river or waterway are the inland barges, deck barges and Hopper barges. And if you're at more of like a construction site that's on the water, you're probably seeing a crane barge as well. But yeah, these, again, I see these all the time, and I usually it's funny if you want to bring up the site really quick, like I said, I use a site, uh, here for Michigan. Well, it's called uh, boatner.com I should have to cry see if we can, like, put it underneath the fire ground. But it's a guy, uh, who basically just tracks, yes, love this site. He basically tracks boats and, like, we'll talk about certain like boat history and barge news. Oh, I love this. Yeah, right. So fun, like, I just love that. There's a person out there that's dedicated themselves to this. What
Blythe Brumleve:a great domain name, too. Yeah, oh
Grace Sharkey:yeah. And then, if you look, I think, is there, oh, see on the right side, it says, AIS quick links. So this is what I use. If so my mom, I will spend a lot of time on the beach during the summer. And it will, it will, if we see like a boat, we always want to know, like, what it is, who, where it's going, stuff like that. So if you click the did you already click the aisle? Yeah, I'll take it. Oh, wait,
Blythe Brumleve:it shared. Sorry, it opened a new tab.
Grace Sharkey:And so, yeah, yeah, there's a lot of them right. Zoom in. Go over to if we zoom in a little bit more, go to the top left. Go, okay, perfect. So that's why I live there. Go scroll it to the left. Culture Lake, Michigan. That's funny. Nope. That's Huron. Other side, other side of the hand. There you go. Okay.
Blythe Brumleve:It's nothing like live navigating,
Grace Sharkey:right? So, like, this is usually the boats that I'm looking at, too. And if you like, click them, they'll usually show, like, see the one that's just like, Great Republic or something, right there? Yeah, click, click the Click the actual boat. It's like a red icon, yeah, see, so it'll pull off exactly what it looks like a little
Blythe Brumleve:photo, yeah? So, if you're just listening, we are on AIS dot boat nerd.com and this is all live information, correct?
Grace Sharkey:Yeah, yep. Sometimes it's like, off by like, an hour or so, but, yeah, usually, like, if we see a boat in front of us, so quickly, we'll go down there and it'll show us, and then we click it and see, see what's up with it. It's awesome. It'll usually tell you in the bottom to like, where it's going or where it came from.
Blythe Brumleve:So cool that there's just, like, hobbyists out here that is just pulling together this kind of information,
Grace Sharkey:I know, right? Look at this, and then this will actually capture, like, any type of boat too. So a lot of times during the summer time, we'll have like, big yachts coming through the lakes, and it'll tell you, like, what its name is, and all that. Oh, that's cool. Yeah,
Blythe Brumleve:that's so I briefly did, and I say briefly, but I need to do a more in depth episode on, like, Great Lakes shipping. I had a rust belt, Rust Belt kid on, on from Gator bar, and so he handled, he does, like, he's a shipper, so he does a lot of like Great Lakes shipping. And he was talking about some of the boats that come in and, you know, different shipping scenarios and things like that. But this just is just on another level of all of the, I guess, just available shipping options, that it's not just the inland waterways, but it's great lake shipping as well. I would maybe argue that are these. So we have, obviously, like, port operations, but then we have great lake shipping, and then we have the INTERCO, like, the inland waterways. I think it's probably, like the big three of the United States. Oh,
Grace Sharkey:most definitely. I mean, like, especially you zoomed out here, like, look at all that stuff is moving right now, right? So it's like, when I say, like, I'm used to seeing barges, like, I'd say probably 80% of what you're seeing right now, pretty sure the red ones are barges, blue ones are toe or tugboats. And then there's like, another color, blue, I think also sometimes it's like yachts and stuff like that. So awesome. If
Blythe Brumleve:you're just listening again, we're looking at a screen of, like, almost like Google Maps, but it's all of the Great Lakes in sort of one screenshot. And then you're, I mean, dozens and dozens of barges, of ships, probably tugboats too, that are in there, of just all just operating this is all just going on around like right now, which I think a lot of people don't fully appreciate, how much stuff gets just moved all the time, and how efficient this kind of shipping is. Because I had pulled up one note that I did want to share. It actually came from Rachel Premack, formerly freight waves, I believe now she's working for a hedge fund, but really, really talented writer, and she said, just with one gallon of fuel, the resourceful barge can chug along for 616 tonnage miles, compared to 478 tonnage miles for rail and 150 miles for trucks. So one gallon of fuel will get you, like, four times as much as a truck, which is insane. That's That's crazy. So we're, yeah, unsung heroes, for sure, in the world of shipping, you
Grace Sharkey:are, even though you should we, we could do an episode on Monday, Tuesday, up in the So, up in the Upper Peninsula, if you see, there's a ton of boats by it, it's like, it's kind of like the center right now of the screen, right on the border of Canada. And if you scroll inwards, Michiganders already know this, but a lot of out of staters don't know, right? Like, kind of exactly like where your cursor was, yep. So keep going see, yeah, see where all those boats are right here in the middle of the screen. Keep nope, to the right, right where, like Canada meets perfect Yes. Keep scrolling right there. So though that is the Soo Locks. So like we have locks of Michigan, just like the Panama Canal. And basically the boats will come in through there, the water will raise up. Then they can go, and they travel through it. And then the same thing, once they get to the other end, it goes down, and they keep traveling through the Lake Superior too. So I visited there. It's really cool.
Blythe Brumleve:It almost looks like they're they're suffering from Port congestion as well, which is, you know, some somewhat recent news that a lot of ports around the globe are suffering from Port congestion, especially everything that's going on in the Suez Canal and Panama Canal and so all these ships are being diverted. So it looks like they got some congestion going on too, which is kind of crazy.
Grace Sharkey:Well, and if I'm remember correctly, there's only one in and one out. It's where I think hanwell's got like, two lanes, right? Two, or somewhere between two and four lanes this. I'm pretty sure it's just one lane each, so it's like one boat at a time. I'm pretty sure that is coming through. But maybe we should do an episode on that.
Blythe Brumleve:Yeah, we should do great like shipping and canals, and then I also think something on icebreakers. So hopefully, you know, if you're if you're listening, be on the lookout for those episodes in the future, and to the haters that that steal our content ideas and try to do them first, we'll know well
Grace Sharkey:that no, if you want to go into this too. We can talk about lesser transportation, and one of my favorite boats is actually built to break ice too. What we're going to do now is So Liz, I literally want to tell everyone this is my favorite boat of all
Blythe Brumleve:time. I think I just brought it up, the SS badger.
Grace Sharkey:Yes. SS badger, yes. The SS badger, my favorite, absolute favorite boat of all time. It has an identical twin called the SS Spartan that hangs out in Ludington. This is where I spend. That's probably me waving from that there, yeah. So I spend at least probably two to three weeks every summer at on the holidays in a city called Ludington, Michigan. And it has, it's connected to one of our still used us 10 waterway highways, and it's run, it runs the SS badger. So this starting Memorial Day until I want to say it's it's actually extended sometime in November, the Badger will run back and forth from Michigan to Wisconsin, and a lot of people use it. So to get let's start back in its history. It originated in 1952 as a rail car ferry. So it actually was they put rail cars off of the trains into the boat to get it over there a little bit faster. And over time, it actually became more of a commercial. And car ferry. So instead of having to drive through Chicago to get to Wisconsin, you can jump on this thing for four hours and get over to the other side very, very quickly. And it's actually now one of the, well, there's 14 vessels that were running back and forth back in the day, but now this is the only one left. Excited. Does have a twin? It's the Spartan. If we had boat nerd open, you'd see the Spartan sitting there. It again, looks exactly the same. The Spartan only sits there, though, as a parts server for the USS bad or the SS badger. So basically, seen that it's it's twin. If a part breaks down in the badger, they just go take it off of the Spartan, and they put it on this thing. And so it's kind of cool to bat the Spartans always sitting in Ludington all day long. It did never, never moves. It actually is now a national historic landmark as of 2016 it's the only national historic landmark that does physically move. And it is a state landmark for two states, not only Michigan, but for Wisconsin as well. And it goes into manage to walk Wisconsin. I've been on it. So here's the thing. I've been on it for a tour, but I've never actually taken a trip on it. So that's something I want to do at some point. My parents have done, they do a really cool Fourth of July dinner, where the Fourth of July after it comes back, so it leaves at 9am and Michigan comes back to Michigan by 7pm from Wisconsin. And so afterwards, though, it'll take the boat will go out into the ocean or into the lake a little bit, and then you can watch the fireworks from the boat, which is kind of cool. Kind of looks like the Titanic, yeah, it's pretty sick. And it's cool because you don't honks every time it comes into shore. So it's like, well,
Blythe Brumleve:what happens during this might be a dumb question, but no, like during winter time, like, Can these ships still operate? Like, are there, like, level ice over it,
Grace Sharkey:layers of ice they used to operate during the winter time, because they are built to break ice. That's kind of an interesting thing about those. They can, they can. They're redesigned, I think in the like, early 60s or something, to to break ice. But I just don't think they run anymore, because I don't think it's just needed, like, there's not enough volume of of users. It's really, it's easy for for them to fill it out, I think during the summer time, but a little bit harder during the winter time for them. So I think they do shut down for that reason. Here's, and this is when I say, it's my favorite boat. I know all of you out there who are like Grace. You know you are you, your Sierra Club member, you, you still give money, Clean Water Action. This is still a coal burning boats, one of the only ones still left on Lake Michigan, I think, if not the only one a couple of years ago, it did get a new, I don't want to say engine, because I don't think it was exactly the engine, but it did basically. It used to burn coal, then dump the coal into the water. Yikes. Yeah, not that great, right? Now, it doesn't do that. It still burns. It still burns a little bit of coal. It's not fully coal operated, but still does burn coal. And instead, now they dump the ash, they offload the ash at the end and actually goes into making this event. So, oh, that's super smart. Yeah, they have thought of it. But, you know, a lot of people were against my I love I have some friends from my college years who are very No, no, I spent a lot of time fighting coal ash. I'll just say that I did. I fought a lot of coal ash in my college years. So a lot of people were very mad at me for loving this boat so much, but I just it's so big and so beautiful. It looks like like the Titanic, and it's and it's awesome because it moves. It moves a number of trucks a day. Most commercial trucks that are hauling in it are actually hauling turbines, but they are so I think in that first YouTube clip I sent over, that's them loading up, I believe trucks for to go into there, and a lot of it because in Traverse City, we have a big turbine, wind turbine producer, instead of Paying the oversize fees to to go like, through Chicago and Illinois. Instead you just, like, put it on this phone. You have to worry about any of it, and he gets there in four hours. I mean, can you imagine driving oversized load turbines through like, four states? Yeah, Chicago traffic, each
Blythe Brumleve:margin, a nice little one. Our ways trip,
Grace Sharkey:yeah, is that? Yeah, get a nice view. The driver gets it feels nice, yeah, save some hours, right? Because it turn the truck off. You have to worry about it. That's true. Um, did you find that? I
Blythe Brumleve:wonder, does that count towards your your your driving time? If you're a truck driver, you're sitting on the barge. I'm
Grace Sharkey:gonna UNED without the education say no because you turned your truck off. Yeah, true. I mean, there's, there's movie theaters in there, there's cafeterias, there's, I think I'm pretty certain, there's, like, beds that you can sleep in if you want to. So it's like, it's a good time. It's you're not just sitting there waiting for hours. There's actually things to do. Apparently, there's like, a big bingo, big bingo situation. You know me, I love bingo. Um, so I just need to get down this boat. And my, one of my best friends from college, actually lives on the other side of it too. So we always joke like I just set the boat to go pick you up. But yeah, if you want to show there is, if you see it, where it's I put in my notes. Moves, 1000s of commercials a year. That should be, I just highlight it for you. That should be, Oh, okay. And then they also, we'll show this one first, I will say too, they also, in recent years, got a new social media view, like person, so they're like, on Tiktok now, yeah, exactly. I'm YouTube, and I'm like, very proud of them.
Blythe Brumleve:So look now you're gonna have to get a Tiktok so you can see all of these things before they make it over to Instagram.
Grace Sharkey:The day I make it Tiktok is the day they take Tiktok.
Blythe Brumleve:They better not, God, I hope they don't. It's the, easily the best social media ad as we're about to play a YouTube shorts that is watermark
Unknown:Tiktok.
Blythe Brumleve:It's this video, if you're just listening, it's, it's loading and unloading large tractor equipment using a semi, and it's going on to the SS badger. So that that I think this, you know what Grace was talking about when referring to some of these, these large items that can be shipped using, you know, a boat like this. So definitely, like another unsung hero, which, no,
Grace Sharkey:there's another shore underneath that. And this is, like, this is one of my this is what they're like, famously known for, for movie these. Wait one. Yeah. Know, on my notes, if you see it,
Blythe Brumleve:oh, let's see. Okay. So
Grace Sharkey:they're famously known for moving Clydesdales, so yeah, they do this, I think, every single year, and they've been known for a while. It's just a faster trip for for that, if you don't know what Clyde's
Blythe Brumleve:you're probably on the horses too. Oh
Unknown:yeah, the world renowned Budweiser Clydesdales were in Ludington to take part of the sesquicentennial celebrations. After a week of appearances and events, the Clydesdales departed Michigan on their way to South Dakota via the badger the second time they have ever sailed with us. They are one of three teams consisting of 10 horses that travel the country for a majority of the year. They attend special events all over the country with their operations team.
Grace Sharkey:They can fit five trucks in there.
Unknown:Their appearances this week were sponsored by Ludington beverage. It's an honor to safely carry America
Grace Sharkey:Jesus. I love that.
Blythe Brumleve:Such a good if you're wondering what that sound was. That is a YouTube shorts deciding to automatically play the next video in the feed as soon as we watch some cute little horses, exactly transported.
Grace Sharkey:I love shorts. But yeah, so that's, that's, that's my favorite boat. It's, it's my mom and I, we love, we always love to go sit and watch the sunset, watch this boat come in. And it's, it's loud, it's just, I love boats, because, especially on, like, big bodies of water, you know, they're just, like, they're there, and then they're not there, you know, it's like, come out of nowhere, and they're just, you always see this thing from very far away. It's like a little dot, and then it just like, slowly gets massive, and it's just the coolest boat, and the know, the history of it, and how long it's been here, and also just how important it is. I mean, it is very, very important. There was a year that it was actually shut down because, if I remember correctly, hit a rock or something like out in the bay somewhere. And so there was a year that it didn't run at all, and they're, like, going through new ownership or something. And just think of everyone that moved oversized loads that year. I mean, it. You know, if you look at Michigan, you don't want to take an oversized load north. Hell no, you don't want to do that. That would be miserable trying to go through the Porcupine Mountains that way. No, I would never do that. And then you definitely have
Blythe Brumleve:Porcupine Mountains. Is
Unknown:that what you said, yeah, yeah. Never heard of them. They're
Grace Sharkey:so like, you go, yeah. They're like, over here. And so you definitely don't want to do that. And then you have Chicago, which is, like, Who would want to take an oversized load through there? So it is, talk about, like, an interesting way that we move oversized loads through the United States, especially, I mean, even, like, if you're shipping even from somewhere, like anywhere on the East Coast. You're likely probably coming in through Michigan and taking that route, instead of having to go through multiple cities, if you can get through Michigan and up into there, that's easy way out.
Blythe Brumleve:Wow. Michigan kind of a shipping, unknown shipping powerhouse, as far as that's especially when you think about all of the states in the United States, like, who is? You tend to think of like more like port cities, traditional port cities. But Michigan is also a port city as well, correct, because of all the waterways and,
Grace Sharkey:yeah, you know, I think that's why we have like. We have so many different cultures, especially around Detroit. I mean, the fur training was huge in this area. Think about the way that we expanded out west. I mean, Michigan was, I think, just so important to as an economic importance, to just how this, our country grew, and really, until you get to the Mississippi River, there were no other huge bodies of water like that that you can take advantage of and and moving things as well. So if we should do a Michigan episode soon, and I bet you that could get really interesting if we actually put some research into that as well,
Blythe Brumleve:yeah, well, I wrote that down for a future episode idea because I liked doing like this that hopefully other folks, you know, and enjoyed it as well. But like this kind of segment that's a little bit away from, like news, news and more of like what, some other parts of shipping that are just cool that I don't really understand all that well. And so using this, you know, using this show with you as a vehicle or, you know, to research, you know, pun intended for for a lot of these, this, these things that I want to learn more about. So this was cool. So we'll, we'll definitely do that. We'll do canals in the future too, and I really want to do one on icebreakers. So maybe that'll be our like sort of show plan here for the
Grace Sharkey:next especially with Lake Lake Superior. I think it really interesting, too.
Blythe Brumleve:Yeah, let's shift gears a little bit, because if you were listening to the previous episode, we talked about tugboats and barges, and we also talked about what we would be discussing on future episodes. And so I think we talked about icebreakers that we're going to do in future episodes. I'm not sure what maybe the other ones I'm blanking on on what we had mentioned, but one of those topics was also shipping canals. And so we thought that we would shine a little bit of a light on the different and major shipping canals all over the world. And I think for for most folks, you are used to, like the Suez Canal that that's the one that Egypt owns. That is it's been, I'll just go through my notes right now. It was opened in 1869 it's a critical maritime route, or has been a critical maritime route for over 150 years. And the significance of it is that it reduces the maritime journey between Europe and Asia by about 4300 miles. I was going to mention kilometers, but I don't know what a kilometer is. And you know, it's, you know, day before July 4. So we are going to go with miles. Yeah, sure what the is a kilometer?
Grace Sharkey:What is the kilometer the world?
Blythe Brumleve:But, nearly 10% of global trade passes through the Suez Canal, including 12% of the world's total oil shipments. I could also go through the Panama Canal, but I wanted to show this quick video first, so let me bring up Grace's favorite platform, and that's the Suez Canal. Hopefully you didn't hear that volume, but let me go ahead and play on this one. Oh, I gotta add it to stage first. So some BTS for you guys. Here's an overview of the Suez Canal from this Tiktok user, Nova sphere two.
Unknown:Here is the Suez Canal, one of the busiest shipping channels in the world and also one of the most profitable canals. The Suez Canal was initially excavated by the French, but the British later became the major shareholders. After Egypt gained independence, they consistently sought control of the canal and eventually six. Seated in ousting the British as one of the busiest shipping channels globally, the Suez Canal witnesses 10s of 1000s of vessels passing through every year. It brings significant economic benefits to Egypt, serving as a vital financial pillar for the country. Reports estimate that around 23,000 ships transit the canal annually generating approximately $8 billion in toll revenue. This means an average daily income of around 22 million and an average toll fee of $350,000 per ship passing through the canal. Today, 70% of oil tankers and cargo ships worldwide navigate through the Suez Canal, it has become a crucial trade route between Asia and Europe, given the substantial costs involved in detouring around the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, Egypt seems to be making money hand over fist, lying back and enjoying the benefits,
Blythe Brumleve:which is actually when you Think about any, any fun facts that you got about the the Suez Canal,
Grace Sharkey:not about the Suez, but apparently, like, we've had canals, we've been using canals. One thing I saw was since Mesopotamia times, which, if you're history buff, that's, yeah, we're talking 1000s of years BC, before the guy that a lot of people believe in, you know? So it's make BC politically correct. But no, it's, that's crazy. I didn't realize how much money they're making and
Blythe Brumleve:the toll fees, I think is, you know what's I'm like, Wow. What a, what a great opportunity for just, I don't know just, I
Grace Sharkey:wish, I wish. Now I'd like to say, like, P and L though, because I, I'm assuming the upkeep of a canal isn't the cheapest thing, either. So, like, I again, people who might not understand businesses, like, just don't think that they're bringing $22 million and that's their profit. I I just assume there's gotta be some costs, or else, like, I mean, Egypt is a pretty but they've also had some instability issues, so, but that's, that's great, and so I was gonna say the lock aspect of it. So as I said, you kind of have canals, and then there's some right that do have a lock aspect, which we see here a lot in Michigan. We have the Sioux locks, the suit Sioux canal, the Sioux locks up in the UP, whereas then there's also like the Erie Canal, which is more closer to Toledo, Detroit area, but that doesn't have locks either. But interesting, no, yeah,
Blythe Brumleve:I had it on my so I'll play that video next on the well, maybe I could play it now with the the Erie Canal, because in my notes, it says it opened in 1825, so it was one of the first, like chipping canals in the United States, I think it was the first, but it played a pivotal role in economic development of the United States in the 19th century. It reduced transportation costs by about 95% significantly boosting trade and settlement in the Midwest. And it spans 363 miles, connecting the Hudson River in Albany to Lake Erie in Buffalo so I
Grace Sharkey:don't think some walk at some point, then, of the,
Blythe Brumleve:well, here I'll, I'll bring this video up now, since we're talking about it. And then we'll get into the Panama Canal next, which is probably, I think, for for United States residents, probably the most you know, famous one, so Suez and Panama. So let me, I'll play this video now too. And this is one is on the Erie Canal, and this comes from Legends and lures over on Tiktok. Oh, wait, I gotta actually share the screen. Beautiful, flawless production level here. Can you tell already for vacation
Unknown:America's greatest engineering feats was completed in 1825 the Erie Canal, stretching 363 miles from Albany to Buffalo, was a groundbreaking project that transformed the nation before the canal, transporting goods from the interior to the port cities, was costly and time consuming. The canal drastically reduced transportation costs of time fueling economic growth and westward expansion. Its construction was an immense challenge, requiring innovative solutions such as the use of hydraulic cement. The success of the Erie Canal led to the boom of cities like Syracuse and Rochester, turning New York City into the nation's principal port. It also spurred a canal building frenzy, with numerous other canals constructed across the country. The Erie Canal wasn't just a marvel of engineering, it was a symbol of American ingenuity and ambition reshaping the landscape and economy in profound ways. Today, it remains a testament to the transformative power of infrastructure.
Blythe Brumleve:So that's the Erie Yeah, I
Grace Sharkey:made a Tiktok video. So much better, huh?
Blythe Brumleve:I know it's about time you get on it all
Grace Sharkey:those AI images. I'm like, wow. Well,
Blythe Brumleve:you know, it does make my sort of the the wheels turn to my brain, like, oh, maybe I don't have to go and do hair and makeup every time I go on screen, and I could just write these scripts myself. And, you know, not have to be a faceless
Grace Sharkey:straight AI us, it's like Nadia, we
Unknown:don't do it. Oh, God, that. That'll
Blythe Brumleve:be the dream.
Grace Sharkey:That's incredible. Yeah, it's, uh, it's so crazy, too. The thing like the time period that a lot of this stuff was built, and how long it's stayed.
Blythe Brumleve:And I think you know, with all of our space discussions too, it's interesting to see how this exact sort of infrastructure not exact, but this same exact, not exact, again, is being built in space now. So we're developing these different like trade lanes and trade routes to space, very similar to how they were developed in the US and just, you know, across, like, human history. So here is the next video on how the Panama Canal works. Well, first, let me give you a little bit of an overview with the Panama Canal. I'm sure maybe that that well, the video I'm going to show is how the Panama Canal actually works, because it's different from other canals across the globe. But the Panama Canal opened up in 1914 it contributes nearly 2 billion annually to Panama's economy, and it shortens the route for shipping, saving around 8000 nautical miles for ships traveling between the east and the west coast of the Americas. And so obviously the Panama Canal is vitally important to shipping goods into the US, so much so that, because the US kind of controls the majority of the Panama Canal, or probably all of it China, was in at one point in talks with Nicaragua in order to build a new canal. That those talks have stalled, but they were going to build a new canal in Nicaragua that China was going to, you know, control most of it and fund most of it. So that did not happen. So the Panama Canal is still the number one probably, you know, greatest importance for the US. So let me play this video on how the canal actually works. And I'm sorry if you're just listening, but hopefully it still kind of comes through, okay. But if not, you can go check out this video over on YouTube. And this video comes from energy dot sector eight, over on Tiktok. If you were just listening, basically what that video is showing is that the ship, once the cargo ship, comes up into the canal, I think it's the lock system. Is that where you very similar to the lock system what you were just talking about. So it goes almost like into a giant pool. They fill up the pool with the water, and then they shift them over to the next sort of lock step. So they go through like three processes of this to get the into the canal. Then they go through the canal, and then they go back through almost the same sort of section where they put the ship in a certain section. These walls go up. Water is filled up or dropped down. And you move section by section. So you might people might have heard of like the the drought problems that the Panama Canal had suffered earlier this year. And so when they don't have that water, they can't have that you know that that different fluctuations of pumping water in, draining the water out, and doing that series of of processes for each ship that goes through. Think that's one of the bigger complaints with the Panama Canal is. And really, I think the Suez Canal is only one ship can really go through at a time. You can't have multiple ships, you know, going north and south or east and west at the same time. So that's the only sort of, I guess, sort of downfall or down, I guess, con of the Panama Canal is that you can't have two ships going at once, very similar to the Suez Canal. But any any fun facts about the Panama Canal you got? Well, the
Grace Sharkey:one thing I'm thinking about too is, I'm pretty sure now that they have, they've expanded it as well, because what they call like a Panamax ship. So it's like cargo ships that are now so wide. And if I believe Rachel Premack, wrote about it a while ago, right? I think it was during her relationships, yes, but they actually had to expand in order to make those work. So that's, that's, I think, an interesting point there. The other thing I was considering, too is. I'm glad you brought up the drought. I think especially that visual kind of shows you like how important that water is to that system, right? So if there is a fall, you can imagine how much slower it's going to take to to get those through. Now, a fun fact for a while, up until I want to say last year, Disney, actually, Disney cruise ship was the I paid the highest toll today. This is in 2008 to go through the pan with canal. And that was $330,000 Wow. If you are a freeway swim fan, then you probably remember, though, in November of last year. Because the line was so long, people were paying higher tolls to jump the line. It was a Japanese container ship, if I remember, I had paid $9 million to jump the line as well, so a little bit more, and I can't imagine that price, if I remember correctly, though, with that Japanese ship, it had some type of product that had an expiration date. So it's one of those things where it's like, if we don't get through this line, like everything on this boat, or majority, wow, boat will expire. So it wasn't just like we had the money, let's pay it and just send the tax over. Another fun fact. And I thought this was interesting, as someone who loves the water, in 1928 a man named Richard, Richard Halliburton, he's like an adventure or something. Halliburton, yeah, no, I don't think relate to that. Help. Okay, swam the full length of a Panama Canal. Oh, wow. Anybody? Yeah, I guess you can. Now the any boat that goes through it, you have to pay a toll, and it's based on your weight. Well, Halbert and had to do the same thing. And so his toll again, 1928 is probably a little higher. Now he ended up having to pay 36 cents too. So if you are going to swing a pan, like, now,
Blythe Brumleve:maybe have to go through the different, you know, live,
Grace Sharkey:oh yeah. Like to think about that like you're just like, rising with the tide. I mean, they go like, at least the ones I've been through, they go very slow. So it's not like, you're just like, like, all sudden up. It's like, very like, a gradual process. Yeah, and that was a small one, so I would assume even bigger, it feels even slower. So yeah, that's, I like the payload. There's a lot of interesting history. I mean, it's not the most it's definitely not the safest history if you look back at it. But you know, Teddy Roosevelt, I believe, started it. And very interesting President in terms of infrastructure and national parks, yeah, 100% so. And then to see the back and forth aspect. So, yeah, if you ever get a chance, like, just look up the history of, like, ownership, by the way, because that's like,
Blythe Brumleve:I think too, there was one, like, interesting fact about, I mean, obviously this is, like, a terrible part of history, but it's there were a lot of workers slave, slavery going on with building that the Panama Canal. But for a lot, I think of like the white workers, they were falling sick to malaria, and for whatever reason, you know, the slaves that they had brought over from Africa were surviving it, wow. And so I want to say that that's like a lot of like the locals in the area were falling sick to malaria, but meanwhile, they found a cure, or not a cure, but a way to fix malaria and where it was coming from, because of the slaves that came over and were also constructing, obviously, not willingly, the Panama Canal, and they weren't dying. And so it was the locals that were dying from it. I mean, if I remember that story correctly, which is, you know, I don't, I don't know if it's like, a good thing or a bad thing, but it was a thing that happened. Okay, so another one that I wanted to talk about is, you know, we so we've talked about, like, the famous canals. But then I also wanted to know, like, well, what other I would have thought that, like, a lot of canals have already kind of been constructed that, like, you know, we don't really like, is construction really happening on new canals? It turns out they are. So I found a couple videos of like, the new canal constructions that are going on across the globe. Because if you think about from the like. None of that is happening in the United States, because we have, you know, the inland waterways. And we talked about a briefly on on the last episode of just the power of the inland waterways, starts at the Mississippi River, and it goes up north, and then you have all of these different outposts that go into, you know, sort of the Midwest. West, but then also into reaching into some of the West Coast that comes all off the Mississippi River. And so when you can go through the Panama Canal and you can ship your freight over to the New Orleans port, then you can put it on a barge and put it up a barge and send it up the Mississippi River like that is an extreme competitive advantage. And also from, not just from a military perspective, but also just from, you know, just supplies in general. And that's really how the dominance of the United States is, that we're, you know, we have oceans on each side of us, but then we also have the Mississippi that allows for that transportation process to take place. Well, China is actually building that same thing. Because if you look at a map of China, especially population maps, the the overwhelming majority of the population, I want to say, like 80% of the population, all lives on the eastern coast of China. So they have rural areas that are, you know, obviously in the, you know, central and western parts of China. But most of the population all lives on the east coast. So now they're trying to change that by building a new canal that will hopefully alleviate some of that shipping stress and almost make like a little bit of like a model of like our inland waterways, just doing it for the the Chinese population, and also, you know, countries like Vietnam. So I'm going to play this video from futurology shorts that's going to talk about that new canal that's being built China
Unknown:has begun construction on a $10.5 billion canal, or the pinglu canal, located in southern China. It will stretch 135 kilometers, linking the river. Reports in the painting the faster route for any goods to regions. This will provide major economic benefits, while also opening up a new waterway for trade with Asian countries. The project, which is China's first new canal in over 70 years, is planned to finish in 2027 Do you think the pink loop canal is a good idea? Let us know in the
Blythe Brumleve:so that's the pingaloo canal that is going on, or the construction that is going on, like the video said, it's opening up in 2027 another country that is building a new canal, or planning to build a new canal, is Turkey. And so over in Turkey, they're kind of trying to do the same thing, where there's one, they already have a canal that is within the country, but there's, I think they have a lot of, you know, similar problems where it's, you know, you can't fit two ships. And, you know, there's a lot of, like, obviously, any kind of Canal, especially like Egypt knows this with the Suez Canal, there's also geopolitical tensions. Who controls, you know, the canals, who gets to collect the tolls? So there's that aspect of things too. So let me play this video from the same company, futurology, dot shorts, where it talks about the construction of the new canal in Turkey. Turkey
Unknown:is planning to build a 45 kilometer long canal across Istanbul, uniting the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The project, which would dive traffic away from the highly congested bostrous Strait, would cost $20 billion generating massive revenues while establishing new ports in transforming Western Istanbul into an island. In addition, it would bypass the Montrose convention, allowing NATO naval vessels access into the Black Sea, infuriating Russia.
Blythe Brumleve:Yikes. So, I mean, obviously there's some geopolitical tensions from from that aspect, but I thought that that was really interesting to know about the new canals that are being built. And then, you know, obviously China had plans to build a canal in Nicaragua. That is not happening. But there was a lot of environmental concerns around that happening, because you think about all the animals that are going to be displaced, the massive I mean, it took, what, like, 100 years for the Panama Canal to be constructed. And so for a lot of these construction projects, it's like, especially for a lot of different governments, like, yeah, how long are these governments coming? You know,
Grace Sharkey:how quickly China gets theirs up and running?
Blythe Brumleve:Yeah, exactly. Now there is another canal that may happen in Thailand. So it is, I don't want to even try to pronounce this, so I'm just going to spell it, K R, A, is Smith's canal proposal. It's a potential route that would cut through the Kira god. I'm not going to pronounce this, right, but k r, a, i, S, T, H, M, U, S in Thailand. Yeah, you're right. It's Miss Kira, creating a direct link between the adamancy and the Gulf of Thailand so that one could potentially reduce shipping times and costs by bypassing the congested Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest mayor. Time routes. So thought that was, that was, I just, I don't know I you kind of think of canals that, like they've just always been there, like the Suez and the Panama like I had no idea that new canals were being built. I hope you enjoyed this episode of everything is logistics, a podcast for the thinkers in freight, telling the stories behind how your favorite stuff and people get from point A to B. Subscribe to the show. Sign up for our newsletter and follow our socials over at everything is logistics.com and in addition to the podcast, I also wanted to let you all know about another company I operate, and that's digital dispatch, where we help you build a better website. Now, a lot of the times we hand this task of building a new website or refreshing a current one off to a co worker's child, a neighbor down the street or stranger around the world, where you probably spend more time explaining the freight industry than it takes to actually build the dang website. Well, that doesn't happen at Digital dispatch. We've been building online since 2009 but we're also early adopters of AI automation and other website tactics that help your company to be a central place, to pull in all of your social media posts, recruit new employees and give potential customers a glimpse into how you operate your business. Our new website builds start as low as$1,500 along with ongoing website management, maintenance and updates starting at $90 a month, plus some bonus freight marketing and sales content similar to what you hear on the podcast, you can watch a quick explainer video over on digitaldispatch.io, just check out the pricing page once you arrive, and you can see how We can build your digital ecosystem on a strong foundation. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I'll see you all real soon and go Jags foreign
