by bigwheels
1 subcomments
- Reminds me of the Shipbreakers article from 3 years ago:
https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/the-toxic-tide-of-sh...
The toxic tide of ship breaking https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34905496 - 30 comments
Unforgettable.
- so these ships are abandoned by the companies that own them, with the crew still on board? and then the crew is just stuck there with dwindling food supplies until somebody comes to rescue them?
in my head this seems like a problem that could be solved by getting on the radio to a nearby port and saying "hey, we've got a tanker carrying $50m worth of crude oil, you can have it if you let us dock", but obviously it can't be that simple if that's not happening. why not?
- This problem is one of the reasons Maritime unions worldwide have been significant and strong players in national labour relations.
- If the crew is mistreated they should sell the boat and all of the contents, including the oil.
Yes, many countries don't have the capacity to refine a large amount, but there are many simple techniques such as even heating the oil that any country can do.
There are always buyers up the chain and in neighboring countries that will buy it. Even arrangements from buyers across the world.
People ignore sanctions all the time. It's part of a free world and free trade. Similar to the legacy laws on the books that everyone and their mother ignores. It is much easier to simply go on with your life and when everyone ignores the law, it gets removed. Politicians don't want to be seen as weaker than they already are so they remove the law very quickly.
- This kind of thing seems to be pretty core to the oil industry business model. In the US when they don't want to deal with an oil well anymore they have whatever fake shell company owns it declare bankruptcy and then they don't have to deal with cleaning it up (https://www.propublica.org/article/oil-orphan-wells-cleanup-...).
- There is a silver lining to this particular catastrophe. A large fraction of the abandoned tankers are a result of sanctions on Russia. It means they're working. Ukraine cares very much about these ships, having damaged a dozen tankers with their "kinetic sanctions" in the past year. They care because the oil is both a war material and a major source of Russian revenue. More abandoned tankers means a weaker Russia.
- sounds like good news for us seasteaders
- This is another one of those things that, having put no thought into it as something that has sat in the background of life since childhood, I had figured was better organised/protected against malicious, negligent and/or fraudulent behaviour.
The world is far more of a chaotic jungle than the facade makes it appear. There is yet much opportunity for mischief for those who dare and have the resources and lack of moral compass.
by Traubenfuchs
0 subcomment
- Anyone wants to start an insurance startup for bringing stranded people home / to wherever they want with me?
(any human trafficking is purely conincidental and not supported by us)
by siliconc0w
2 subcomments
- If we actually taxed fossil fuel producers what it took to offset the negative externalities offloaded to the public, we'd be 100% on renewables long ago.
- [dead]
by ToucanLoucan
1 subcomments
- Before I read, I’m going to guess some combination of shady business bullshit and global instability.
reads
Yup.
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