Shipping Lines Pull Back From Japan

[Poll_Blind]

From the New York Times:

HONG KONG — The economic disruptions from Japan’s crisis have cascaded into another, crucial link in the global supply chain: cargo shipping.

Fearing the potential impact on crews, cargo and vessels worth tens of millions of dollars, some of the world’s biggest container shipping lines have restricted or barred their ships from calling on ports in Tokyo Bay over concerns about radiation from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Meantime, ports in China are starting to require strict radiation checks on ships arriving from Japan. And in California on Friday, the first ship to reach the Port of Long Beach since Japan’s earthquake was boarded and scanned for radiation by Coast Guard and federal customs officials before being allowed to dock.

Big Japanese ports much farther south of Tokyo, like Osaka and Kobe, are still loading and unloading cargo. But the Tokyo Bay ports of Tokyo and Yokohama are normally Japan’s two busiest, representing as much as 40 percent of the nation’s foreign container cargo. If other shipping companies join those already avoiding the Tokyo area, as radiation contamination spreads from Fukushima Daiichi 140 miles north, the delays in getting goods in and out of Japan would only grow worse.

--snip--

Much more at the link above!

PB

[NV Whino]

1. So, one has to ask

Was all that nice nuclear energy worth it?

It will take decades for Japan to recover economically.

[originalpckelly]

6. It's pretty cheap energy though.

If nothing goes wrong, like you know, in the real world where things go wrong, and terribly wrong, sometimes.

[PoliticAverse]

2. Exactly the type of thing a county looking to rebuild doesn't need... n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. So how will goods get into Japan, never mind their exports.

[Poll_Blind]

7. I have little doubt that, regardless of their import cautions, China, Russia, Korea, et al. will...

...be more than happy to export goods to Japan. Probably to one of the big ports like Kobe or Osaka. I have read that Moji is a very large port but I really don't know much about it. AFAIK those are the bigger ports accessible to inbound traffic from those countries I mentioned.

PB

[godai]

8. Go to Osaka, Kobe. n/t

[flamingdem]

4. It's one thing to support Japan, it's another to take a dose for that support

see how capital flees when it has to pay a price bigger than a small fee

[godai]

9. They are just going to other ports in Japan. n/t

[Modern_Matthew]

5. Good. I don't want traces amount of radiation spreading across the world. nt