In November 2020, the containership ONE Apus was sailing from China to California when a severe storm struck. The 364-meter ship began rolling heavily. Soon, nearly 1,800 of the ship's containers—some of which were carrying dangerous goods like fireworks and liquid ethanol—came loose. Some crashed onto the deck. Others spilled into the ocean, lost forever.
The ONE Apus incident was one of at least six major containership accidents that occurred since November, which altogether have resulted in the loss of 2,980 containers. That's more than double the annual average number of lost containers from 2008 to 2019, according to a recent report from the World Shipping Council.
What's causing the uptick? It's likely a combination of bad weather and heavily loaded ships, some of which are packed to the brim due to increased U.S. imports since the beginning of the pandemic. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that January brought the largest monthly increase in U.S. imports since 2012.
To be sure, the World Shipping Council notes that containership accidents have been on a downtrend over the past decade, writing "containers lost overboard represent less than one thousandth of 1% of the roughly 226 million containers currently shipped each year."
But that fraction of a percent adds up over time. After all, international containerships move more than 80 percent of global trade, representing a roughly $4 trillion industry. And while accidents are relatively rare, they pose significant threats to crew and the environment, not to mention the economic costs.
In its recent report, the World Shipping Council notes several ways the industry has been working to improve safety standards, including increased inspection programs and updated packing practices.
Still, accidents are bound to happen among the 6,000 containerships that are sailing the world's oceans at any given time. One reason is parametric rolling, a phenomenon only experienced by containerships.
The World Shipping Council
In short, parametric rolling is a sudden side-to-side movement of a large ship caused by a specific alignment of waves, usually during a storm. Parametric rolling can send containers, which are sometimes stacked six stories tall, toppling over each other.
Bigger ships tend to be more at risk.
"The new container ships coming to the market have large bow flare and wide beam to decrease the frictional resistance which is generated when the ship fore end passes through the water, making it streamlined with the hull," wrote Marine Insight.
"As the wave crest travels along the hull, it results in flare immersion in the wave crest and the bow comes down. The stability varies as a result of pitching and rolling of the ship. The combination of buoyancy and wave excitation forces push the ship to the other side."
Credit: Pixabay
On a broader scale, the cost of shipping goods by any method—train, truck, air, ocean—is rising as supply chains are becoming congested and demand for imports keeps increasing. For the most part, companies are fronting the bill.
As for U.S. consumers? They might start paying a premium for imported goods, or for goods that feature imported parts.
"Most prices along the supply chain have gone in one direction, and that's up, so it has to appear somewhere," Joanna Konings, a senior economist at ING, told CNN Business.
Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy, by Tim Harford
Businesses rise and fall. A chance invention transforms an entire industry, sometimes the entire world. Through the many trials and tribulations of trailblazers and entrepreneurs, a few things have been learned over the years. Navigating the complex world of business, start-ups and technology can be intimidating for would-be shakers and makers. Luckily, the wisdom of those before have left us with timeless advice that has eventually become business canon.
Here are 10 of the best books for entrepreneurs and inventors.
The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone
No other product in recent memory has been as acclaimed and well-renowned as the iPhone. A mixture of business acumen, stellar marketing and teams of genius engineers brought this to market under the tutelage of Steve Jobs. Brian Merchant's The One Device is an all-encompassing expose on the iPhone's creation.
Merchant digs into every corner of the literal world to piece together a full narrative, from the mining of minerals to working conditions in Chinese factories, nothing is left out. He also interviewed hundreds of people who worked on the phone's development. This book also dispels the lone genius myth surrounding Steve Jobs. This was a project that was one of a kind, changed our society and continues to do so in many unexpected ways. This book is a great piece of contemporary tech history.
The Innovator's Dilemma
Today, the idea of disruptive technology is almost household knowledge. Clayton Christensen first put forth the idea in a Harvard Business Review article titled 'Disruptive technologies: Catching the wave'. This was followed up by the seminal work we know today as The Innovator's Dilemma.
Christensen set out to understand why such powerful and iconic firms, such as Xerox, General Electric and many others eventually fell and lost their industry-leading status. His answer proved to be a little overlooked factor of innovation – disruptive technology and its unintended consequences for business staying power.
Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy
This book is packed with an incredible amount of facts about the inventions that changed our world. Harford writes about inventions through a number of different angles, including the economics, politics, culture and historical background behind each device.
These different machines and inventions are part of a larger shared history of civilization and humanity. It's also a great book to look at how we take for granted so many minute, but incredibly important things essential for the functioning of the modern world.
The Idea Factory
At the peak of Bell Labs between 1940 and 1970, there was some-thousand-plus PhD researchers working on an incomprehensible amount of research within the communications field and industry. Backed by the powerful AT&T in its prime, the Bell Labs went on to produce technological innovations in a number of industries. Some of these incredible technologies included transistors, fiber optics, UNIX, C and information theory.
The main idea of Bell Labs was to get all of these researchers together into one location with the idea of innovation endemic to the purposes of these labs. This book goes into great detail about the structure and history of this amazing time.
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras set out to define what they call visionary companies. These are the companies at the top of their game and industries. One of their key points is that a visionary company is also a very successful organization and subsequently an institution. Leaders will come and go, but the system must survive. All products will eventually become obsolete and markets will even disappear.
The authors explain the daunting task and responsibility that come with creating and running an organization of this magnitude. Collin and Porras review a series of companies that have overcome this great challenge and become visionary in the process.
Losing my Virginity
Richard Branson is one of the most well known entrepreneurs of our time. This is a great book to hear his personal story written directly by him. Branson skipped out of college and jumped right into the wild business world.
Business endeavor after endeavor, you see just what made Branson the entrepreneur he is today. Branson's autobiography is an inspirational business tale told in a relatable tone. Another fascinating part of this read is the functionality of the Virgin brand. Each business under the umbrella branding is its own subsidiary with its own realm of control and corporate governing. This book is both parts fun and informative.
The Founder's Dilemma
It's not necessarily that genius or business ideas are lacking, it's that taking the first step in founding a business is not only hard, but takes an enormous amount of courage. Many people don't even know where to start. Noam Wassermans' The Founder's Dilemma is a book that attempts to do the impossible and make a science around the trials early entrepreneurs face when creating a start-up.
Wasserman explores the common pitfalls that founders face and how to deal with them. He delves into equity funding, founders teams and much more. Utilizing data sourced from 10 years worth of quantitative studies, he weaves expert analysis and anecdote into concise advice to form nothing short of a business founder bible.
The E-Myth
This book has one central idea and that's how to create a business that can run without you. The E-Myth (Entrepreneurial Myth) argues that businesses created by entrepreneurs often fall short of being profitable, true business entities because they're started by employees who merely create their own jobs working for themselves and miss the business component entirely.
Gerber repeatedly hammers in the point through three made-up personalities titled the Entrepreneur, Manager, and Technician.
In order for your business to succeed, you need to utilize all of these roles seamlessly together before expanding and hiring. These roles entail being a visionary with a goal for the company; a planner and organizer; and a worker that can actually do the work the business provides.
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success
Cal Newport has coined a term he calls deep work. That is the ability to focus on a demanding task without any distraction. He believes that this is a skill that will allow you to eventually master complicated information and get better results in whatever you're doing. Part cultural polemic and self-help, Newport wants readers to unlock a forgotten ability in the flurry of distracted and meandering work.
The Lean Startup
The Lean Startup is one of the most highly cited and acclaimed books for new business ventures. It is a foundational business book that has changed the business startup landscape the past decade. Eric Ries wrote a compelling book that distills the core principles in being successful with a new product that gets customers and also makes them stay loyal. Ries focuses more on the software industry, but it's not a stretch to see these same principles being applied throughout many industries.
Bill Nye's most recent book is Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World.
