The ghost fleet of the recession.

"The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination - and is why your Christmas stocking may be on the light side this year..."

Revealed: The ghost fleet of the recession

...

Here, on a sleepy stretch of shoreline at the far end of Asia, is surely the biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history. Their numbers are equivalent to the entire British and American navies combined; their tonnage is far greater. Container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers - all should be steaming fully laden between China, Britain, Europe and the US, stocking camera shops, PC Worlds and Argos depots ahead of the retail pandemonium of 2009. But their water has been stolen.

They are a powerful and tangible representation of the hurricanes that have been wrought by the global economic crisis; an iron curtain drawn along the coastline of the southern edge of Malaysia's rural Johor state, 50 miles east of Singapore harbour.

It is so far off the beaten track that nobody ever really comes close, which is why these ships are here. The world's ship owners and government economists would prefer you not to see this symbol of the depths of the plague still crippling the world's economies.

...

What a fascinating article...

If accurate, the scale of this is amazing!

[edit on 14-9-2009 by loam]

That is some scary $h!t. I can't believe that there are some many empty tankers and cargo ships just sitting there. This is going to be a horrible Christmas season for the stores, and we are going to see the economy crumble again.

Cool. The Trojan hunks Brad Pitt and ERic Bana are out to finally wipe out the last airbender.

Also in my country: articles.latimes.com...

www.mindanews.com...

Looks just like D-day pic......wait a tic....OMG.....The Japs are invading the Philippines again! Where is MacArthur when you need him?

reply to post by loam


Very interesting info Loam .

It would seem the unused ships are finding alternate uses by investors .

Toyota Storing Unsold Cars On Cargo Ships.

I wonder how many are parked elsewhere?

I wish there were more photos. It must be a sight to behold.



[edit on 14-9-2009 by loam]

I like it!!

Here's why, we don't need anymore crap !! The earth is saturated with manufactured crap that ends up in landfills and the ocean...good that it is slowing down. The sooner this system fails, the sooner we can work together to create a more sustainable, mature and equitable economy that is good for the planet and all living creatures.

Use these empty vessels to go clean up the plastic continent!!

Ahoy matey!

Time to go all Somalian on those Toyota ships.

New Tundras for everyone!
Mount a PKM and you've got yourself a tactical.


Somebody should tell those shipping companies that the recession is over.

How bitter sweet. The elite steal from the middle class of America and the world and put them into poverty and we as a species rape the planet a little less.

The time is ripe for regime change the world over to governments that will restore freedom and restore free market capitalism to maintain a balance with the planet.

This is the vulnerability that can be exploited in the NWO's upcoming moves on the grand chess board. I hope there are enough people awake with the morals and courage to pull it off.

From the article:

VesselTracker.com

Very cool site.

Great Find Loam

If you all remember a few years ago the petrol tanker strike in the UK nearly brought Britain to its knees in just a week, no food in the shops etc.... I have always been very worried about this... the nature of modern life whereby we all have a week or twos of essentials, and the shops keep low stockpiles, sell and order new as perishables...

The interconnected nature of the gerbil wheel of modern commerse and life... if anything major happenned worldwide like a pan regoin or even continent wide natural disaster etc the whole way of doings things and modern society would change soo drastically and quickly.....

Like the banking crisis many would be suprised and look at their Faux news in incredulation... like then I wouldnt, or should I say wont.


Well from your link the following hits the nail on the head globally to me the biggest problem and danger here:

But retailers are running on very low stock levels, not only because they expect consumer spending to be down, but also because they simply do not have the same levels of credit that they had in the past and so are unable to keep big stockpiles.

Well well.

Elf


[edit on 15-9-2009 by MischeviousElf]

This is paints a very real picture of the state of the global economy. This is an amazing story, I wonder if there are other places like this.

Do you think we could find a site like this on Google Earth?

reply to post by Shadowflux


Great Post! This is surely and indicator, along with all of the locomotives that now sit idle, with no freight, no destination, and no orders.

Nothing to see here, move along now.

The recession is over...

starred and flagged!

reply to post by Pilot


I agree with you 100%.

One good thing to come from this collapse (when it finally hits in its entirety) will be the inevitable shift away from material wealth and ownership and toward a sustainable, self-sufficient, ecological mindset.

I had always thought that it would come about after another catastrophic world war (I suppose it still could), but I'd much rather see people choose this path voluntarily, through their own decisions rather than through massive destruction.

And I think it's now more likely than ever.
Celente suggests that the next big businesses opportunities come in the form of sustainability, green energy, ecological supply of goods and services... And I think he is absolutely right.

Over the next ten years governments will be trying to persuade people to spend, spend, spend, to support their model of a capitalist system (which is what they are doing now). And the people will hopefully see this as a sham and move further and further away from it.
The system is designed to split the population between the poor masses and the wealthy elites who control everything, and people are waking up to the game.

It's a glorious picture, signalling the end of an era of indulgence and greed. Lets hope we can turn those ships into a reef in the next five years!

reply to post by burntheships


This is true too, I know someone who is a conductor for CSX, one of the largest freight rail companies. They paid to put him through conductor school not so long ago but then quickly got put on "furlough" which is basically planned unemployment for a few months. Apparently they're just not shipping the same amount of stuff as they were a year or two ago and can't afford to keep everyone employed year around.

He tried getting work from another rail company but could only manage to get very little part time work. (He is back at CSX, in case you were wondering)

Although, none of this really jives with what I saw the last time I went to the mall. It looked like a warzone, it was packed full of people with lines around the corner in the anchor stores. Makes you wonder where all these people are that are "saving their money like crazy"

reply to post by Shadowflux


Yes, and the numbers grow larger every month....

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Heading eastbound on Interstate 10 in Colton, drivers pass what seems to be a never-ending line of parked locomotives. Some are freshly painted, with "Union Pacific" in bold letters, while others have the graffiti-scarred signs of a long life on the rails.

But one thing is for sure: A lot of them are staying, at least until the economy and railroad industry rebound.

www.ble.org...

While the fleet are definitely indicative of international trade slowdown,
the locomotive numbers seem just as serious...

Originally posted by detachedindividual
reply to post by Pilot

 

I agree with you 100%.

One good thing to come from this collapse (when it finally hits in its entirety) will be the inevitable shift away from material wealth and ownership and toward a sustainable, self-sufficient, ecological mindset.

I had always thought that it would come about after another catastrophic world war (I suppose it still could), but I'd much rather see people choose this path voluntarily, through their own decisions rather than through massive destruction.

And I think it's now more likely than ever.
Celente suggests that the next big businesses opportunities come in the form of sustainability, green energy, ecological supply of goods and services... And I think he is absolutely right.

Over the next ten years governments will be trying to persuade people to spend, spend, spend, to support their model of a capitalist system (which is what they are doing now). And the people will hopefully see this as a sham and move further and further away from it.
The system is designed to split the population between the poor masses and the wealthy elites who control everything, and people are waking up to the game.

It's a glorious picture, signalling the end of an era of indulgence and greed. Lets hope we can turn those ships into a reef in the next five years!

i agree with you, i've seen this happening first hand, alot of people i know are downsizing and taking an objective look at their lifestyle and what is truely important, having 2 cars , 2 jetskis, a motorhome a garage, attic and shed full to the brim with useless crap, people are coming around, its nice to see.

Quite related: www.abovetopsecret.com...

I'm still looking for more pictures of this, but am having no luck.

With respect to the rail yards, does anyone know where the largest ones are?

[edit on 17-9-2009 by loam]