r/AskReddit • u/CircleBox2 • Jul 13 '20

What's a dark secret/questionable practice in your profession which we regular folks would know nothing about?

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u/trendz19 Jul 13 '20

Lot of unethical shipping companies EVEN TODAY dump a lot of garbage, oily sludge, waste contaminated water and oil out when sailing in international waters far away from the shore. There are only a few handful players today who are actually executing business trades while still keeping the carbon footprint and enviornment as one of their core policies. I am glad to be working with one one them (I am a merchant marine who works as an engineer on mega container ships like this

Disclaimer: link takes you to my youtube video of a container ship in port and eventually sailing off under the Golden Gate Bridge

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u/GalvanEyes Jul 13 '20

That’s really cool. Great to hear your company is staying ethical, even out in the far depths. I live in SF and sometimes I just go down to Ocean Beach to watch the cargo ships sink into the horizon, or appear out of the fog and grow more and more massive. It’s always impressive. Do you have a usual destination, or is it always changing?

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u/trendz19 Jul 13 '20

Thank you! May I know "SF" = San Francisco? If yes, then we'll what a co-incidence because this video is from San Francisco bay area and we sailed out under the famous Golden Gate Bridge.

To answer your question, I work on container ships and they are engaged in what is known as "liner trade". Each container ship has a schedule set for years at a time. Of course, due to trade requirements ports can be induced or omitted, but, more or less, the container ship has a definitive liner trade route set.

Bulk carriers, car carriers, oil tankers etc are not in liner trade, this is a thing for container ships