I read that book too ;-) about the container ship transports and hordes of Chineses missile carrying ships.
You have to have freedom of the seas to move troops by ship. They'll never gain freedom or command of the seas. They're a threat militarily, but the greater threat is our lack of political will.
Additionally, there are certain times (usually at the fiscal year rollover) when a greater percentage of our capital ships are in port. A large freighter or tanker scuttled in the right places could bottle up a significant portion of the carrier fleet for weeks.
One could argue the point that the loading and transport or multiple brigades of light mechanized infantry would be hard to pull off but if anyone could, it would be the relatively insulated Chinese that could attempt it.
Thinking up wild scenarios is definitly a good excercise though. Most of history's spectacular upsets occur when an "underdog" pulls off a scheme that the larger more complacent foe completely overlooks. When we chatter and posit wild scenarios there's always the chance that someone may stumble across these threads later and think "I wonder how that would game out?" and thereby devise a counter for the arcane scenario...