MUST SEE: How your goods get to Wal Mart

[*MAD DOG*]

The Emma Maersk, part of a Danish shipping line, is shown in the photos below.

What a ship....no wonder 'Made in China ' is displacing North American made goods big time. This monster transports goods across the Pacific in just 5 days!! This is one of three ships presently in service, with another two ships commissioned to be completed in 2012.

These ships were commissioned by Wal-Mart to get all their goods and stuff from China. They hold an incredible 15,000 cartons and have a 207 foot deck beam!! The full crew is just 13 people on a ship longer than a US Aircraft Carrier (which has a crew of 5,000).

With it's 207' beam it is too big to fit through the Panama or Suez Canals. It is strictly transpacific. Cruise speed: 31 knots.

The goods arrive 4 days before the typical container ship (18-20 knots) on
a China -to- California run. 91% of Walmart products are made in China.

So this behemoth is hugely competitive even when carrying perishable goods.

The ship was built in five sections. The sections floated together and then welded.

The command bridge is higher than a 10-story building and has 11 cargo crane rigs that can operate simultaneously unloading the entire ship in less than two hours.

Additional info:

Country of origin - Denmark
Length - 1,302 ft
Width - 207 ft
Net cargo - 123,200 tons
Engine - 14 cylinders in-line diesel engine (110,000 BHP)
Cruise Speed - 31 knots
Cargo capacity - 15,000 TEU (1 TEU = 20 cubic feet)
Crew - 13 people !
First Trip - Sept. 08, 2006
Construction cost - US $145,000,000+

Silicone painting applied to the ship bottom reduces water
resistance and saves 317,000 gallons of diesel per year.

Editorial Comment!

A recent documentary in late March, 2010 on the History Channel noted that
all of these containers are shipped back to China , EMPTY. Yep, that's right.
We send nothing back on these ships. What does that tell you about the current financial state of this country? Just keep buying those imported
goods (mostly gadgets) until you run out of money.

Then you may wonder what the cause of unemployment (maybe even your job) in the U.S. and Canada (or any other country?) might be????

'Nuff said ??

This message, if any, surely deserves forwarding, doesn't it ?

[Revsson]

I hate Wal-Mart as it is.

[Kal-El]

Wow, unbelievable. Thanks for sharing.

91% of all Wal*Mart goods are made in China? Sad. But people demand cheap prices and cheap prices make Wal*Mart uber-successful. You want American made stuff? Pay for it. Because Americans demand high pay which of course jacks up the price of American goods.

Surprisingly though, China had only passed America this year in total manufacturing value. Meaning, we still make much of the expensive products in the world - machinery, tech, medical, ect...and yeah, we still make a lot of cars (including many foreign badged cars).

China specializes in making cheap stuff - the stuff found in Wal*Mart. I'd rather be the country known for making the high tech stuff over the high volume throw away crap.

[cali yaris]

Good post. I will not shop at Wal-Mart.

Just watch the documentary on them:
http://www.walmartmovie.com/

[tomato]

Tony, the pictures are really impressive!

As to Walmart, I guess I understand if there is nothing else around where you live and if you really must shop there because it's either this or pay double somewhere else, but luckily there are other stores we can shop at around here that don't treat their employees like crap ....

By the way, did anyone read "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich" ?

It is surprisingly easy to read (I read it, can't be that hard ;) and will give you some insight about Walmart.

careful, who you give your money to

[Altitude]

Those Danes really know how to build a ship. That thing is awesome!

The horrible irony of Walmart is that its existence and success is made more probable by the very thing that makes Walmart able to sell goods at low prices. US manufacturers moving jobs overseas forcing the laid off workers into lower paying service oriented jobs... like working at Walmart.

[RedRide]

Originally Posted by Altitude

Those Danes really know how to build a ship. That thing is awesome!

The horrible irony of Walmart is that its existence and success is made more probable by the very thing that makes Walmart able to sell goods at low prices. US manufacturers moving jobs overseas forcing the laid off workers into lower paying service oriented jobs... like working at Walmart.

Yes, and the disturbing reality that US politicians wil not tell you is that since they (politicians) gave away our manufacturing base, even though people may be spending, it wil no lead us out of the present depresion.
Sure, we can create some so-called "green jobs" in the US but, how long wiil it take to also outsourse those jobs.

If poeple don't wake up to it soon, it wil be the end of the US economy as we know it and there will bw no recovery for it.

We cound not win WWII today because corporations, with the blessings of polititians, gave away the manufacturing base that won it!

[yarrr]

WinCo is much cheaper for food, and they do profit sharing with employees(instead of not paying overtime like wallyworld). I honestly wouldn't feel safe buying their food anyway. Wal-mart clothes fall apart in a week, so for value stores like ross and thrift stores are cheaper. There really is no reason to shop there unless as tomato said, there's nowhere else around.

[cali yaris]

corporations, with the blessings of polititians, gave away the manufacturing base that won it!

They did it by not regulating!

[TLyttle]

No, DE-regulating! Good ol' Dubya, he gave away the US, and started a couple of wars to hide the fact...