Ever put a container on a scale, man? They are damn heavy, with or without cargo. And all of the ships out there are fully loaded with containers.
It’s not as easy as you may think.
Have you ever heard of a plimsoll line?
They use it to determine the depth a container ship be safely loaded.
You can’t load a ship with empty containers and not see the difference...its not physically possible.
A 10ft container weighs approximately 2,645 lbs. Fully loaded that container tops the scales at almost 23,000. I will be back in Corona del Mar today overlooking the southernmost anchorage of the vessel backlog. I’ll pull out the binoculars again and really check how low in the water the ships are. Although I can tell you they weren’t sitting high last time.
Your suggestion is ludicrous. You remind me of people talking about oil tankers dumping fuel out in the desert back in 1979.