Posted on 01/11/2016 12:07:50 PM PST by Gritty
The continued collapse of The Baltic Dry Index remains ignored by most - besides we still have Netflix, right? But, as Dollar Vigilante's Jeff Berwick details, it appears the worldwide 'real' economy has ground to a halt!!
Last week, I received news from a contact who is friends with one of the biggest billionaire shipping families in the world. He told me they had no ships at sea right now, because operating them meant running at a loss.
This weekend, reports are circulating saying much the same thing: The North Atlantic has little or no cargo ships traveling in its waters. Instead, they are anchored. Unmoving. Empty.
You can see one such report here. According to it,
Commerce between Europe and North America has literally come to a halt. For the first time in known history, not one cargo ship is in-transit in the North Atlantic between Europe and North America. All of them (hundreds) are either anchored offshore or in-port. NOTHING is moving.
This has never happened before. It is a horrific economic sign; proof that commerce is literally stopped.
We checked VesselFinder.com and it appears to show no ships in transit anywhere in the world. We aren't experts on shipping, however, so if you have a better site or source to track this apparent phenomenon, please let us know.
We also checked MarineTraffic.com, and it seemed to show the same thing. Not a ship in transit...
If true, this would be catastrophic for world trade. Even if it's not true, shipping is still nearly dead in the water according to other indices. The Baltic Dry Index, an assessment of the price of moving major raw materials by sea, was already at record all-time lows a month ago... and in the last month it has dropped even more, especially in the last week. Today BDIY hit 415...
Factories aren't buying and retailers aren't stocking. The ratio of inventory to sales in the US is an indicator of this. The last time that ratio was this high was during the "great recession" in 2008...
...(Edit) *snip*
We’re doomed! We’re all gonna die.
Beware the ghost U-boat fleet!
we are all gonna die. not because of this, however.
>> not because of this, however.
Bingo.
I use a similar site called Marine Traffic. If you don’t pay the subscription fee, all you get is ships that are within range of shore mounted equipment. There has to be at very least oil tankers crossing the oceans every day.
Buy American? Oh wait we off-shored along time ago. Bummer.
Yes but not from Chinese mushrooms.
Doesn't look like 'nothings moving' to me.
http://www.vit.org/WebReports/vesselschedule.aspx?terminal=NIT
You'll have to copy and paste if you're interested, I forgot how to post a link.
That is as sure a thing as "taxes".
Finally we are conserving resources and saving the environment. If only more people would choose to die, the planet would be safer for the rest of us.
>> That is as sure a thing as “taxes”.
Yep! And we don’t know the hour.
Be prepared.
Some of us are....and I am not being sarcastic..
Port of Houston Authority
Expected Arrivals
http://info.poha.com/vtraffic/arrivals.html
And that is just one port
Global Warming enthusiasts are comforted by this news
The maps are not being read correctly. There are ships out.
Map 1 - zoom in to see. legend on left of screen.
Map 2 - FAQ indicates data source used only has a range of about 50NM offshore.
Nice websites.
I suppose if you can define the parameters narrowly enough, you can write doom and gloom headlines.
You will be pleased to observe that the US Navy has just published regulations for running the Great Green Fleet. I kid you not. That rumbling you hear is Teddy Roosevelt spinning in his grave.
Yes, it is...It says that western economic growth has not only stalled, but is in decline.
This runs contrary to government projections and statistics, but this condition has been the case for some time, and the markets are just now beginning to believe it.
It could mean the beginning of the debt bubble's bursting and a financial disruption that will make 2008 look like a kids birthday party.
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