Comment by libraryofbabel
3 days ago
This is weirdly beautiful, like the maps of undersea internet cables that frequently come up here as well.
You can clearly see:
1) oil flowing out of the Persian Gulf from the Middle East to China
2) ships waiting to get through the Panama and Suez Canals
3) why people talk about “shipping lanes”. There are some obvious tracks everyone follows, because it’s the cheapest way from A to B (e.g. cape of good hope to straight of malacca).
4) why Singapore got to be such an important global hub.
5) why the houthis and the Somali pirates could cause such havoc
6) nobody goes in the southern ocean! (Why would they? Unless you’re bringing supplies to Antarctica…) a few ships drop down to go around Cape Horn but that’s it.
and so much more. I wish it included more up-to-date data…
> 6) nobody goes in the southern ocean!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring_Forties
“Below 40 degrees south, there is no law; below 50 degrees, there is no God.”
There's currently a 100-ft foiling trimaran in the southern ocean that is racing the clock around the world attempting the around the world record.
They've averaged about 34 mph (30 kn) for 22 days now. Crazy stuff.
https://sodebo-ultim3.sodebo.com/
The red boat on the tracker is the world record track from 2017.
Although interestingly, as that wikipedia article also points out, people did go down into the 40s quite a bit during the Age of Sail (the famous clipper route), because the strong prevailing winds meant it was the fastest way to get around the world. This comes up quite often in the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian.
If you're not a sailing ship, you don't benefit from the winds, so those latitudes are pretty empty nowadays.
I hiked Torres del Paine around 51 deg south about 12 years ago and the winds were no joke. On plains or in mountain passes it was absolutely howling. It felt like you could lean into it at a 60 deg angle and not fall over. Sometimes when the trail went close to a steep edge with nothing to break the wind I felt like I needed to crouch, ready to get on the ground, in case a gust caught me.
> Below 40 degrees south, there is no law
Apparently, the current US administration thinks international law does not exist, no matter the latitude/longitude.
I posted this as a top-level comment, but for up to date info you might try this:
https://www.vesselfinder.com/
I have no affiliation with that site, I just enjoy it.
Another good one is: https://www.marinetraffic.com
> why Singapore got to be such an important global hub.
Without the the location, of course Singapore wouldn't have been able to be so important. But the location isn't everything --- Singapore manages to outperform Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas despite the similar geographic advantages of the Malaysian ports due to much better execution.
On 3, Traffic Separation Schemes (TSS) will be making things look tidier (and safer) for many of the more organized flows.
In a TSS, you have to drive on the right, and if you're crossing one, your heading (not your track) must be as close to 90 degrees, to minimize your exposure time. When you're sailing this can be a big pain. The anti-collision rules are altered in a TSS.
> 4) why Singapore got to be such an important global hub.
Thailand is still dreaming of building a canal to create an alternative option.
> This is weirdly beautiful
Until you notice the carbon emissions on the top left.
It's depressing to note that air travel accounts for similar total yearly emissions but is up to 50x more polluting on a per unit of cargo/people transported.
My favorite: near the Bering strait you can see the distortion of the map - obviously ships go in straight lines on a sphere but in a curve on the map.
> nobody goes in the southern ocean! (Why would they?...)
For the fish — plenty of trawlers in the Southern Ocean.
There's currently a guy, Jari Saario, rowing across from South America to South Africa. Lots of icebergs indeed. https://www.instagram.com/jari_saario/
the weather & tides are terribad down south