WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.240 When you look around the room right now or Look 00:00:03.240 --> 00:00:05.500 at the sticker price of a new car outside. You're 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:07.219 usually just factoring in the obvious things. 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:09.400 Right, like the cost of raw materials or the 00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:11.400 engineering labor. Exactly, or the ridiculous 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:14.300 dealer markup. Oh, always. But baked into that 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:16.579 final number and really baked into every single 00:00:16.579 --> 00:00:20.460 object around you is this expansive, completely 00:00:20.460 --> 00:00:24.100 invisible geopolitical web. Ocean freight network. 00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:27.179 Yes, the global supply chain. We just tend to 00:00:27.179 --> 00:00:29.079 take it for granted that vehicles manufactured 00:00:29.079 --> 00:00:32.079 halfway across the globe magically appear at 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.320 our local... It is a really strange mental disconnect, 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:37.899 isn't it? We rely heavily on maritime logistics 00:00:37.899 --> 00:00:41.359 for almost everything we consume, yet we're completely 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:44.000 detached from the staggering scale of it. Right. 00:00:44.119 --> 00:00:46.020 I mean, the maritime history of the past century 00:00:46.020 --> 00:00:49.299 is essentially the story of how our modern interconnected 00:00:49.299 --> 00:00:52.380 world was physically constructed. And that is 00:00:52.380 --> 00:00:54.500 exactly what we're getting into today. Welcome 00:00:54.500 --> 00:00:56.899 to this deep dive. Today, we are working off 00:00:56.899 --> 00:00:59.700 a really comprehensive Wikipedia article detailing 00:00:59.700 --> 00:01:02.390 the maritime history of Caleb. line. Which is 00:01:02.390 --> 00:01:05.609 Kousaki Kizunkaisha Limited. Right. One of Japan's 00:01:05.609 --> 00:01:08.209 most historically massive transportation companies. 00:01:08.650 --> 00:01:11.709 And our mission today is to trace their wild, 00:01:11.909 --> 00:01:15.310 century -long journey from the late 1800s to 00:01:15.310 --> 00:01:17.569 today. Because it's a phenomenal case study. 00:01:17.750 --> 00:01:20.049 It really is. We want to look past the boring 00:01:20.049 --> 00:01:22.590 logistics and spreadsheets to find the real human 00:01:22.590 --> 00:01:24.829 stories hidden in the cargo hold. We're talking 00:01:24.829 --> 00:01:28.579 triumphs, brilliant engineering, and... some 00:01:28.579 --> 00:01:31.319 seriously catastrophic human errors. Yeah, when 00:01:31.319 --> 00:01:33.819 you examine a shipping giant like this, you aren't 00:01:33.819 --> 00:01:35.840 just looking at a corporate timeline. You get 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:38.780 to see exactly how rapid industrialization, the 00:01:38.780 --> 00:01:41.120 devastation of world wars, and even modern green 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:44.140 technology completely forced the world to rethink 00:01:44.140 --> 00:01:46.859 how it moves cargo. OK, let's unpack this, because 00:01:46.859 --> 00:01:48.959 to truly understand the sheer scale of where 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:51.840 the shipping industry giant is today, we have 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:54.280 to go back way back to the industrial boom. The 00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:58.040 late 19th century. Exactly. 1878. We've got an 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:00.819 entrepreneur named Kawasaki Shozo. He establishes 00:02:00.819 --> 00:02:03.680 the Kawasaki Tsukiji Shipyard in Tokyo. Which 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:05.739 eventually evolves into the Kawasaki Dockyard 00:02:05.739 --> 00:02:08.460 Company. Right. But the actual shipping activities. 00:02:09.389 --> 00:02:11.250 You know, the movement of goods rather than just 00:02:11.250 --> 00:02:13.530 building the hulls. That doesn't really gain 00:02:13.530 --> 00:02:16.490 momentum until 1919. Under the leadership of 00:02:16.490 --> 00:02:19.349 Kajiro Matsukata. Yes, Matsukata. And what's 00:02:19.349 --> 00:02:21.930 crucial here is that Matsukata recognized a really 00:02:21.930 --> 00:02:24.590 fundamental principle of industrial economics. 00:02:25.349 --> 00:02:27.990 Vertical integration. If you build it, you better 00:02:27.990 --> 00:02:30.550 have a use for it. Exactly. If you're manufacturing 00:02:30.550 --> 00:02:33.430 ships, you need a guaranteed reason to utilize 00:02:33.430 --> 00:02:36.280 them. He wanted to develop shipping services 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:39.400 to ensure constant business for his own dockyards. 00:02:39.659 --> 00:02:43.039 While also serving Japan's rapidly accelerating 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:45.159 industrial interests. Right. They were really 00:02:45.159 --> 00:02:47.680 stepping onto the global stage. So to achieve 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:50.259 that massive scale, he pulls off a huge consolidation 00:02:50.259 --> 00:02:54.240 in 1921. He takes three distinct firms, Kawasaki 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:57.280 Kizun, Kawasaki Zozen, and Kokusai Kizun, and 00:02:57.280 --> 00:02:59.360 puts them under joint management. And since all 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:01.280 three of those companies start with the letter 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:04.099 K. They just combine the initials. the moniker 00:03:04.099 --> 00:03:07.780 the industry knows today, K -Line. It's brilliantly 00:03:07.780 --> 00:03:10.500 simple. And their expansion was remarkably aggressive. 00:03:10.699 --> 00:03:12.979 Oh, absolutely. They immediately set out to build 00:03:12.979 --> 00:03:16.919 a formidable fleet. We're talking 40 to 50 vessels 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:19.740 right out of the gate, establishing routes across 00:03:19.740 --> 00:03:22.759 the Atlantic, the Americas, Africa, the Mediterranean, 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:27.120 the Baltic Seas. It's wild. By 1926, just five 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:30.819 years after the merger. Lloyd's Register ranked 00:03:30.819 --> 00:03:34.120 them as the 13th largest shipping company in 00:03:34.120 --> 00:03:36.520 the entire world. Which is just an incredibly 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:39.259 fast ascent for that era. But here is an aspect 00:03:39.259 --> 00:03:41.580 of this early history that completely caught 00:03:41.580 --> 00:03:44.759 me off guard. The art. The art. Kajiro Matsukata 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:47.060 wasn't just a shipping magnate. He wasn't just 00:03:47.060 --> 00:03:50.139 focused on maritime logistics and steel. No, 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:53.080 he had this profound, entirely separate passion. 00:03:53.419 --> 00:03:55.780 He was a massive, world -class art collector. 00:03:56.099 --> 00:03:58.639 What's fascinating here is the lasting cultural... 00:03:58.669 --> 00:04:01.770 legacy of that specific collection. I mean, when 00:04:01.770 --> 00:04:04.150 we think of early 20th century industrialists, 00:04:04.210 --> 00:04:07.169 the stereotype is usually just ruthless monopolists 00:04:07.169 --> 00:04:09.689 hoarding wealth. Exactly. But Matsukata's private 00:04:09.689 --> 00:04:11.449 art collection was actually curated with the 00:04:11.449 --> 00:04:14.370 public in mind. He spent vast sums of his shipping 00:04:14.370 --> 00:04:17.189 fortune acquiring Western art. Because he wanted 00:04:17.189 --> 00:04:20.720 to build a museum in Japan. He literally wanted 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:23.980 to show young Japanese artists what Western painting 00:04:23.980 --> 00:04:26.399 actually looked like in person. Which is incredible. 00:04:26.519 --> 00:04:29.639 And today, his collection actually forms the 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:32.160 core of the National Museum of Western Art in 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:34.500 Tokyo. It's such a striking duality when you 00:04:34.500 --> 00:04:36.079 really think about it. We have these massive 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:39.100 iron freighters hauling industrial cargo across 00:04:39.100 --> 00:04:42.040 the treacherous Atlantic, directly funding a 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:44.500 world -class collection of fine art. And it doesn't 00:04:44.500 --> 00:04:46.740 stop with Western art either. The Tokyo National 00:04:46.740 --> 00:04:50.040 Museum houses his extensive collection of Ukiyo 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:53.019 prints. Right. The traditional Japanese woodblock 00:04:53.019 --> 00:04:55.540 prints. Yeah. Think of Hokusai's famous Great 00:04:55.540 --> 00:04:57.920 Wave. Many of these traditional works have been 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:00.279 sold off to Western collectors over the decades. 00:05:00.500 --> 00:05:02.899 So he essentially used his shipping wealth to 00:05:02.899 --> 00:05:05.139 systematically buy them back. And return them 00:05:05.139 --> 00:05:08.279 to Japan. It's a vital reminder that the titans 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:10.680 of early ocean freight didn't just facilitate 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:13.860 global trade. They actively financed and shaped 00:05:13.860 --> 00:05:16.959 national heritage. But that golden age of cultural 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:19.579 and industrial expansion hits a brutal wall. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:23.420 World War II. Right. World War II erupts, and 00:05:23.420 --> 00:05:25.839 the maritime industry is drafted right onto the 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:28.899 front lines. The destruction inflicted on Kaline's 00:05:28.899 --> 00:05:32.180 fleet is difficult to fully conceptualize. Staggering. 00:05:32.300 --> 00:05:35.319 By the end of the war, they had lost 56 vessels. 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:38.079 They were left with only 12 ships in their entire 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:41.660 fleet. Twelve. When you stop to consider the 00:05:41.660 --> 00:05:44.620 sheer volume of capital, the raw materials, and 00:05:44.620 --> 00:05:47.259 most importantly, the human lives attached to 00:05:47.259 --> 00:05:50.920 the loss of 56 ocean -going vessels, the scale 00:05:50.920 --> 00:05:53.860 of the devastation is just sobering. They essentially 00:05:53.860 --> 00:05:56.899 had to start over from a scrap. They did. During 00:05:56.899 --> 00:05:59.180 the post -war recovery period, their survival 00:05:59.180 --> 00:06:01.600 depended on meticulously re -establishing their 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:04.899 trade routes. in a completely transformed global 00:06:04.899 --> 00:06:07.660 economy. And they do claw their way back, largely 00:06:07.660 --> 00:06:10.000 riding the wave of Japan's post -war economic 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:13.019 miracle. This rebuild really culminates in the 00:06:13.019 --> 00:06:16.120 1960s with a massive merger with Inokisin. Which 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:18.199 brought their newly capitalized fleet up to 104 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:21.060 ships. But the real operational pivot, the moment 00:06:21.060 --> 00:06:22.699 that directly connects to the vehicle sitting 00:06:22.699 --> 00:06:24.860 in our driveways right now, happens in 1971. 00:06:25.459 --> 00:06:28.579 The dawn of the roll -on, roll -off revolution. 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:32.500 Roroships. Roroships. And this cannot be overstated. 00:06:32.500 --> 00:06:34.800 It is a critical innovation in ocean freight. 00:06:34.980 --> 00:06:37.079 Because prior to this, how did you ship a car? 00:06:37.579 --> 00:06:40.439 If you wanted to ship a vehicle overseas, it 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:43.259 involved lifting cars individually with cranes. 00:06:43.379 --> 00:06:46.240 Just dangling them in cargo nets? Exactly. Cargo 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:49.600 nets or pallets. It was incredibly slow, heavily 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:51.800 prone to damaging the vehicles, and created a 00:06:51.800 --> 00:06:54.720 massive bottleneck at the ports. So a Raro vessel 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:56.939 completely changed the geometry of shipping. 00:06:57.180 --> 00:06:59.560 It's designed with built -in ramps. Vehicles 00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:01.939 can simply be... driven directly into the hole, 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:04.699 secured on specialized decks, and driven off 00:07:04.699 --> 00:07:06.980 at the destination. It turned a loading process 00:07:06.980 --> 00:07:09.339 that took days into one that took hours. It's 00:07:09.339 --> 00:07:12.740 brilliant. So in 1971, K -Line launches their 00:07:12.740 --> 00:07:16.180 first dedicated RR vessel, the Toyota Maru No. 00:07:16.339 --> 00:07:19.779 10, and they adopted this highly specific naming 00:07:19.779 --> 00:07:22.019 convention for their fleet that I just love. 00:07:22.220 --> 00:07:24.500 The highways and bridges? Yes. They decided that 00:07:24.500 --> 00:07:26.579 every single one of their car carriers would 00:07:26.579 --> 00:07:29.139 include the word highway in the name. So you 00:07:29.139 --> 00:07:31.509 get ships named... the Makassar Highway or the 00:07:31.509 --> 00:07:34.009 Diamond Highway. Symbolizing a literal extension 00:07:34.009 --> 00:07:36.769 of the road. A highway connecting Japan to the 00:07:36.769 --> 00:07:40.129 rest of the world by sea. Meanwhile, all their 00:07:40.129 --> 00:07:42.110 container ships got names with the word bridge. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:44.980 It's a really smart piece of corporate branding, 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:47.639 but it also highlights the hyper -specialization 00:07:47.639 --> 00:07:50.240 of their operations. I mean, they eventually 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:52.800 expanded their car carrier fleet to around 70 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:55.779 vessels. Completely mirroring the explosion of 00:07:55.779 --> 00:07:58.500 the global auto industry. Specifically, the dominance 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:01.959 of Japanese automakers exporting worldwide. And 00:08:01.959 --> 00:08:04.420 they continuously diversified to support these 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:06.600 global supply chains. Right. They weren't just 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:09.220 building the big ocean crossers anymore. In 2003, 00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:12.980 they launched KSS. The European short sea feeder. 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:16.540 Exactly. For context, a short sea feeder is essentially 00:08:16.540 --> 00:08:19.279 a regional distribution network. The massive 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:21.600 ocean liners drop off thousands of cars at a 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:24.399 major hub port, and then smaller KSS vessels 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:27.240 distribute those new cars around the local European, 00:08:27.720 --> 00:08:30.360 Scandinavian, and Mediterranean ports. They also 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:33.919 pivoted into energy logistics in 2007, founding 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:37.159 K -Line Offshore in Norway. To provide specialized 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:39.519 support ships for oil and gas fields in the North 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:43.529 Sea. Right. Ultra deep, harsh environments. And 00:08:43.529 --> 00:08:45.769 we can't overlook the human logistics required 00:08:45.769 --> 00:08:50.230 here. Oh, the academy. Yes. In 2007, they announced 00:08:50.230 --> 00:08:53.830 10 new cargo ships designed to be manned entirely 00:08:53.830 --> 00:08:57.110 by Filipino officers and crew. To facilitate 00:08:57.110 --> 00:08:59.690 that, they physically constructed the K -Line 00:08:59.690 --> 00:09:02.210 Maritime Academy in the Philippines. Operating 00:09:02.210 --> 00:09:04.870 with a goal to train up to 10 ,000 seafarers 00:09:04.870 --> 00:09:07.970 a year. 10 ,000 a year. Because supplying the 00:09:07.970 --> 00:09:10.009 maritime industry requires just as much human 00:09:10.009 --> 00:09:12.110 engineering as it does mechanical. But regardless 00:09:12.110 --> 00:09:14.009 of how massive they were getting, the underlying 00:09:14.009 --> 00:09:16.429 economics of the shipping industry are notoriously 00:09:16.429 --> 00:09:19.169 volatile. Very boom and bust. Fast forward to 00:09:19.169 --> 00:09:22.730 2017. The global container shipping market is 00:09:22.730 --> 00:09:25.830 facing massive oversupply. Historically low freight. 00:09:25.899 --> 00:09:28.919 rates. To survive, K -Line makes a highly strategic 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:31.340 defensive move. It's a mega merger. They merge 00:09:31.340 --> 00:09:33.580 their container services with two other Japanese 00:09:33.580 --> 00:09:37.059 shipping giants, NYK and MOL. Integrating to 00:09:37.059 --> 00:09:39.919 Form 1 -1, which stands for Ocean Network Express. 00:09:40.220 --> 00:09:42.220 By pooling their operations, they created an 00:09:42.220 --> 00:09:44.600 entity large enough to actually weather the economic 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:47.299 downturns. And compete against the European mega 00:09:47.299 --> 00:09:49.659 carriers. They even shifted their headquarters 00:09:49.659 --> 00:09:52.440 to Singapore to centralize their global reach. 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:54.279 But here's where it gets really interesting. 00:09:54.830 --> 00:09:59.350 Because forming a mega entity like one solved 00:09:59.350 --> 00:10:02.559 their inefficiency problem on paper. But when 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:05.519 just a few sprawling companies control that much 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:07.899 of the global fleet, the temptation to rig the 00:10:07.899 --> 00:10:10.559 game becomes almost irresistible. Which brings 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:14.440 us to the boardroom scandals. In August 2019, 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:17.720 the Australian federal court officially convicted 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:20.759 K -Line for criminal cartel conduct, handing 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:24.720 down a $34 .5 million Australian dollar fine. 00:10:24.860 --> 00:10:27.120 Which is huge. It was a deeply revealing moment 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:29.389 for the maritime logistics sector. The courts 00:10:29.389 --> 00:10:31.870 found that K -Line and NYK had been operating 00:10:31.870 --> 00:10:35.029 a secret cartel, actively colluding to fix prices 00:10:35.029 --> 00:10:37.029 for the transport of vehicles into Australia. 00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:39.980 And the craziest part is the duration. This wasn't 00:10:39.980 --> 00:10:42.120 just a bad quarter. No, this cartel had been 00:10:42.120 --> 00:10:45.679 active operations since 1997. 1997. That means 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:48.539 for over two decades, the freight rates for imported 00:10:48.539 --> 00:10:51.360 cars into Australia were being artificially inflated 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:54.259 by a secret alliance. If you bought an imported 00:10:54.259 --> 00:10:57.120 vehicle in Australia during those 22 years, it 00:10:57.120 --> 00:10:59.580 is highly likely you paid a hidden premium simply 00:10:59.580 --> 00:11:02.259 because a handful of executives agreed not to 00:11:02.259 --> 00:11:05.059 compete on price. Which raises such a big question 00:11:05.059 --> 00:11:08.129 about market visibility. Exactly. Shipping is 00:11:08.129 --> 00:11:10.490 prone to cartels because the fixed capital costs 00:11:10.490 --> 00:11:13.129 are immense. You have to pay for the vessel, 00:11:13.250 --> 00:11:15.809 the fuel, the crew, whether the cargo hold is 00:11:15.809 --> 00:11:19.029 full or empty. So to avoid a price war, they 00:11:19.029 --> 00:11:21.470 just quietly agree to maintain baseline rates. 00:11:21.730 --> 00:11:24.029 And because the everyday consumer never sees 00:11:24.029 --> 00:11:26.590 the ocean freight invoice, they never question 00:11:26.590 --> 00:11:29.129 the hidden transportation costs. baked into the 00:11:29.129 --> 00:11:32.470 sticker price. 34 .5 million sounds steep, but 00:11:32.470 --> 00:11:35.090 averaged over 22 years of artificially protected 00:11:35.090 --> 00:11:37.809 revenue. Many critics argue it just becomes the 00:11:37.809 --> 00:11:40.309 cost of doing business. It's a stark reality 00:11:40.309 --> 00:11:43.769 of corporate logistics. But as damaging as white 00:11:43.769 --> 00:11:46.789 collar collusion is to your wallet, the spreadsheets 00:11:46.789 --> 00:11:49.389 pale in comparison to the physical immediate 00:11:49.389 --> 00:11:51.730 dangers out on the water. Oh, absolutely. The 00:11:51.730 --> 00:11:54.230 logistics of ocean freight are incredibly complex. 00:11:54.529 --> 00:11:57.649 But the incident involving the car carrier Makassar 00:11:57.799 --> 00:12:00.919 Highway in 2018 proves that sometimes the biggest 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:03.899 threat to a supply chain is just basic, catastrophic 00:12:03.899 --> 00:12:07.440 human negligence. It completely strips away the 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:10.440 illusion of a perfectly automated, fail -safe 00:12:10.440 --> 00:12:13.940 industry. Let me set the scene here. It's July 00:12:13.940 --> 00:12:17.820 2018. The Makassar Highway, carrying over 1 ,300 00:12:17.820 --> 00:12:20.120 vehicles, is sailing off the coast of Sweden. 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:24.240 Right. Out of nowhere, it runs hard aground in 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:27.019 the Trust Archipelago at full speed. Carrying 00:12:27.019 --> 00:12:30.120 the hole open. Spilling an estimated 14 ,000 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:33.379 liters of oil into the ocean. It triggers a severe 00:12:33.379 --> 00:12:35.559 environmental crisis for the Swedish Coast Guard. 00:12:35.740 --> 00:12:37.659 And you'd assume a crash of this magnitude involved 00:12:37.659 --> 00:12:40.159 a mechanical failure or maybe severe weather. 00:12:40.379 --> 00:12:43.509 Right, but no. By his own admission, the captain 00:12:43.509 --> 00:12:46.029 purposely ordered the ship to deviate from the 00:12:46.029 --> 00:12:48.450 established, heavily monitored shipping lanes. 00:12:48.629 --> 00:12:50.730 Steering dangerously close to the rocky coastline. 00:12:50.809 --> 00:12:52.730 Why? Because he wanted to get mobile phone reception. 00:12:53.110 --> 00:12:54.990 I mean, it sounds absurd, but the reality is 00:12:54.990 --> 00:12:58.250 chilling. A colossal commercial vessel loaded 00:12:58.250 --> 00:13:01.440 with expensive cargo and heavy fuel. intentionally 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:04.039 steered into hazardous waters simply because 00:13:04.039 --> 00:13:06.059 a crew member wanted to catch a cell signal. 00:13:06.179 --> 00:13:08.500 And the cascading failures go so much deeper. 00:13:08.679 --> 00:13:11.580 The post -crash investigation revealed that the 00:13:11.580 --> 00:13:14.379 ship's satellite communication system and its 00:13:14.379 --> 00:13:17.340 black box were completely inoperable when they 00:13:17.340 --> 00:13:19.519 left port. They had actively disabled the bridge 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:22.139 alarm systems. Furthermore, the chief mate was 00:13:22.139 --> 00:13:25.759 legally intoxicated. Wow. His blood alcohol content 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:29.679 was estimated at 1 .15 per mil, which translates 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:34.059 to... to roughly 0 .115%, well over double the 00:13:34.059 --> 00:13:36.519 legal driving limit in many jurisdictions. He 00:13:36.519 --> 00:13:39.240 was ultimately fined for intoxication and recklessness. 00:13:39.500 --> 00:13:41.799 And incredibly, investigations found that this 00:13:41.799 --> 00:13:45.059 exact same ship had collided with a Chinese dredger 00:13:45.059 --> 00:13:47.779 just a few months earlier. When you analyze cargo 00:13:47.779 --> 00:13:50.100 ship accidents like the Makassar Highway grounding, 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:52.460 you're looking at the fundamental vulnerability 00:13:52.460 --> 00:13:55.850 of global trade. These multimillion dollar vessels 00:13:55.850 --> 00:13:59.070 are ultimately operated by exhausted human beings 00:13:59.070 --> 00:14:01.129 and human beings get bored. They want to call 00:14:01.129 --> 00:14:04.110 home. They bypass safety protocols and they make 00:14:04.110 --> 00:14:07.269 terrible compounded mistakes. A drunk chief mate, 00:14:07.470 --> 00:14:11.490 broken comms, disabled alarms and a captain prioritizing 00:14:11.490 --> 00:14:14.649 cellular data over navigation. It vividly demonstrates 00:14:14.649 --> 00:14:17.429 how fragile safety infrastructure can be in practice. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:20.639 But human negligence is just one variable. Sometimes 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:23.440 the inherent nature of the cargo itself introduces 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:27.539 an uncontrollable threat. Fire. Yes. In the maritime 00:14:27.539 --> 00:14:30.679 industry, an onboard fire is the ultimate paralyzing 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:34.500 nightmare. In June 2019, another K -line car 00:14:34.500 --> 00:14:37.179 carrier, the Diamond Highway, caught fire while 00:14:37.179 --> 00:14:39.000 sailing between Singapore and the Philippines. 00:14:39.399 --> 00:14:42.600 The blades escalated so rapidly that all 25 crew 00:14:42.600 --> 00:14:44.879 members were forced to abandon ship and had to 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:47.019 be rescued. The ship was completely disabled. 00:14:47.580 --> 00:14:49.539 But the complexity of fighting these fires is 00:14:49.539 --> 00:14:51.799 escalating dramatically, as we saw with the Fremantle 00:14:51.799 --> 00:14:54.860 Highway disaster in 2023. Yes, the Fremantle 00:14:54.860 --> 00:14:56.659 Highway incident made international headlines 00:14:56.659 --> 00:15:01.820 for weeks. Late at night on July 26, 2023, the 00:15:01.820 --> 00:15:04.000 ship is navigating off the coast of the Netherlands 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:06.759 when a fire breaks out deep in the cargo holds. 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:09.019 And if we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:12.860 the specifics of this ship highlight a monumental 00:15:12.860 --> 00:15:16.000 new challenge for maritime logistics. The vessel 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:20.960 was carrying 3 ,783 vehicles. Crucially, 498 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:23.259 of those were electric cars. Right. And while 00:15:23.259 --> 00:15:25.620 the Dutch Coast Guard listed the exact cause 00:15:25.620 --> 00:15:28.559 of the fire as unknown, extensive media reports 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:31.440 and industry analysts immediately pointed to 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:33.460 an electric vehicle potentially sparking the 00:15:33.460 --> 00:15:36.120 blaze. Fighting a fire inside a standard RRO 00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:39.070 vessel is already a logistical nightmare. But 00:15:39.070 --> 00:15:41.090 during the initial efforts on the Fremantle Highway, 00:15:41.429 --> 00:15:45.049 the situation deteriorated so rapidly. Tragically, 00:15:45.070 --> 00:15:47.909 one crew member died and 16 others were injured. 00:15:48.090 --> 00:15:50.570 Forcing a highly dangerous rescue operation to 00:15:50.570 --> 00:15:53.429 evacuate the remaining 22 crew members. The physical 00:15:53.429 --> 00:15:55.889 logistics of trying to salvage that vessel were 00:15:55.889 --> 00:15:59.070 daunting. The bow of the Fremantle Highway stood 00:15:59.070 --> 00:16:02.269 roughly 30 meters high. That's nearly 100 feet 00:16:02.269 --> 00:16:05.350 above the waterline. Trying to effectively project 00:16:05.350 --> 00:16:08.429 suppressants onto a fire, burning deep inside 00:16:08.429 --> 00:16:11.389 a floating, multi -story steel box of that height, 00:16:11.529 --> 00:16:14.809 is incredibly difficult. Furthermore, electric 00:16:14.809 --> 00:16:17.409 vehicle fires involve lithium -ion batteries. 00:16:17.730 --> 00:16:20.269 Which can enter a state of thermal runaway. They 00:16:20.269 --> 00:16:22.629 burn at exceptionally high temperatures and can 00:16:22.629 --> 00:16:24.710 essentially generate their own oxygen. Meaning 00:16:24.710 --> 00:16:27.049 traditional water suppression often just doesn't 00:16:27.049 --> 00:16:29.289 work. And the authorities were terrified of an 00:16:29.289 --> 00:16:31.840 environmental catastrophe. If the ship had taken 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:34.679 on too much firefighting water and sunk, it would 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:37.080 have decimated the ecologically sensitive Wadden 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:39.700 Sea. Fortunately, the fire eventually burned 00:16:39.700 --> 00:16:42.000 itself out and the chart hull was towed to a 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.620 Dutch port. It's a stark illustration of the 00:16:44.620 --> 00:16:46.820 immense stakes involved in moving cargo across 00:16:46.820 --> 00:16:49.440 the oceans today. It really is. So what does 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:52.019 this all mean for you? The next time you walk 00:16:52.019 --> 00:16:54.659 past a new vehicle, or really any imported good, 00:16:54.860 --> 00:16:57.539 take a moment to consider the sheer scale and 00:16:57.539 --> 00:16:59.740 the incredible fragility of the supply chain 00:16:59.740 --> 00:17:01.580 that delivered it. Everything has a history. 00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:04.319 Every single item possesses a hidden history. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:08.119 That history involves billions of dollars, century 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:10.799 -old legacy companies that survived world wars. 00:17:11.589 --> 00:17:14.470 Brilliant engineering feats like the RO ships. 00:17:14.769 --> 00:17:17.190 And yes, sometimes it involves a legally intoxicated 00:17:17.190 --> 00:17:19.490 crew and a captain steering a massive ship into 00:17:19.490 --> 00:17:22.430 a rocky coast just for a few bars of cell service. 00:17:22.549 --> 00:17:24.950 Exactly. The global supply chain is a system 00:17:24.950 --> 00:17:27.769 that is constantly evolving, yet perpetually 00:17:27.769 --> 00:17:29.990 vulnerable. And building on the details of those 00:17:29.990 --> 00:17:32.529 EV fires, I'd like to leave you with a different 00:17:32.529 --> 00:17:34.950 angle to consider regarding the future of this 00:17:34.950 --> 00:17:38.039 industry. Okay. If human error causes catastrophic 00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:40.859 crashes simply for cell service, and the transition 00:17:40.859 --> 00:17:43.039 to electric vehicles is creating intense chemical 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:45.859 fires, then human crews are physically unequipped 00:17:45.859 --> 00:17:48.400 to fight how long until these massive shipping 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:50.400 conglomerates push to eliminate the human element 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:53.599 entirely. Wow. The next major era of the global 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:56.119 supply chain might not just be defined by green 00:17:56.119 --> 00:17:58.319 energy. It might be defined by fully autonomous 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:01.079 AI -driven ghost ships navigating the oceans, 00:18:01.299 --> 00:18:04.339 carrying hazardous, volatile cargo without a 00:18:04.339 --> 00:18:06.799 single human life on board. to put at risk. That 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:09.839 is an incredibly provocative thought to end on. 00:18:09.940 --> 00:18:12.640 The very technologies we're developing to solve 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:15.259 our modern problems are creating entirely new 00:18:15.259 --> 00:18:17.519 paradigms for the invisible networks operating 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:19.700 out on the ocean. Thank you so much for joining 00:18:19.700 --> 00:18:22.140 us on this deep dive. Keep looking closely at 00:18:22.140 --> 00:18:24.180 the world around you. Keep questioning the hidden 00:18:24.180 --> 00:18:26.500 journeys of the objects you interact with every 00:18:26.500 --> 00:18:28.720 single day, and we will catch you next time.