The Ghost Fleet Of The Recession

What’s bigger than the US & British navies combined? The ghost fleet of the recession:

…Then I have it - his 750ft-long merchant vessel is standing absurdly high in the water. The low waves don’t even bother the lowest mark on its Plimsoll line. It’s the same with all the ships parked here, and there are a lot of them. Close to 500. An armada of freighters with no cargo, no crew, and without a destination between them.

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.

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.

So they have been quietly retired to this equatorial backwater, to be maintained only by a handful of bored sailors. The skeleton crews are left alone to fend off the ever-present threats of piracy and collisions in the congested waters as the hulls gather rust and seaweed at what should be their busiest time of year.

Some experts believe the ratio of container ships sitting idle could rise to 25 per cent within two years in an extraordinary downturn that shipping giant Maersk has called a ‘crisis of historic dimensions’. Last month the company reported its first half-year loss in its 105-year history.

These empty ships should be carrying Christmas over to the West. All retailers will have already ordered their stock for the festive season long ago. With more than 92 per cent of all goods coming into the UK by sea, much of it should be on its way here if it is going to make it to the shelves before Christmas.

While the msm happily tell us that the recession is over and green shoots are everywhere, the fact remains that nearly 20% of the worlds container ships have nothing on them, are going nowhere, and won’t be soon.

Like the article says, western retailers have already put in their orders for Christmas, and anything being delivered is already on its way, or it has arrived. Not a good sign at all.

The msm, the banks, and the gov’t are lying to us. Good times are not here again. There are no green shoots. The economy is in shambles. No matter how much “hope” a person has isn’t going to make things better. The simple fact is that Americans are in debt up to their eyeballs. The chances of them getting out of debt any time soon is slim to none.

Canadians are not much better off. We have hitched our ride to the Americans long ago, and we export our products to them to the tune of 70-80%. If they aren’t buying, we aint exporting.

And I understand that we have a resource-based economy in Canada, but take a look at lumber sales and such and tell me how that’s working out. Oh, we have a ton of oil, but other than Rocky and his bags of petrol dollars, I don’t know anyone that’s making a dime off the black gold.

American citizens owe approximately 2.7 trillion bucks, and 70% of America’s economy is based on consumer spending. That’s a fact. Americans are way over leveraged, and its citizens don’t have a pot to piss in or window to throw it out of. They can’t spend because they don’t have any money to spend. They are trying to pay down debt, exactly what they should be doing. The reason those ships are idle and empty is because the game is over. Our governments’ know it, the banks know it, the state run media knows it. We are being lied to. Don’t fall for it.

Source: mitchieville.com...

People need to wake up to the reality of our situation!
Unemployment is up.
Shipping and Trade is down.
Banks are closing.
Stores are going out of business.
People are losing homes.

Stop listening to lies! Start waking up others!

[edit on 19-9-2009 by gatorboi117]

[edit on 19-9-2009 by gatorboi117]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words... well for anyone paying atention to whats going on with our money and where we are headed, you can add some zero's to the end of the number of words.

Great find, realy puts a visual on how things realy are. Hopefuly it will wake more up and get them paying atention.

reply to post by gatorboi117


It's a very interesting story ... but for the record:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by schrodingers dog


Indeed. This is actually the fifth thread already. Already discussed here: www.abovetopsecret.com...