

The invisible network that keeps the world running - mowgles
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150209-the-network-that-runs-the-world

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flashman
Here's a premise for you: autonomous cargo ships, incorporated as their own
entities, bidding on freight contracts and offering transport through a system
not unlike an AdWords bidding auction. They circle the world constantly,
offloading and picking up cargo from sail-through offshore platforms, stopping
only for maintenance, and occasionally doing really strange things for reasons
only their algorithms can explain.

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swatow
When things move so slowly, there is no advantage to being autonomous. And it
makes little difference economically who the owners are. Right now, ships will
change their speeds based on changes in interest rates, since it is more fuel
efficient to move slowly, but when interest rates go up, it is worthwhile to
get the cargo to its destination quicker.

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mafribe
That's really interesting. I know little / nothing about the economics of
large scale maritime transport. Could you point me towards some reading
material on this subject?

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205guy
For those who want a peek into the maritime industries (shipping, offshore
extraction, navies, tourism, etc) and their concerns (commodity prices,
shipwrecks, arctic warming, big engine tech): gcaptain.com

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reitanqild
Thanks! I didn't know and I've been working in the industry for many moons
already.

My go-to site for offshore is the local
[http://www.offshore.no/international/](http://www.offshore.no/international/)

Anyone else has good resources?

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joosters
A book suggestion for anyone who would like to read more: "Ninety percent of
everything"

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ninety-Percent-Everything-
Shipping-I...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ninety-Percent-Everything-Shipping-
Invisible/dp/1250058295/)

~~~
hga
And a book thoroughly covering this from the beginning, which also provides a
physical world example of successful but painful standards creation: _The Box:
How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy
Bigger_ [http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-
Economy...](http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-
Economy/dp/0691136408/)

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Animats
Wait until he visits Rotterdam. It's all robot cranes and robot vehicles.

