[momokoko]

> Parker did some work around town, scrounged together $3k, and began taking a state-subsidized ferry to Juneau, where he bought Costco inventory to resell in Gustavus at a small markup.

> As the store grew, Parker and his father launched their own freight company, purchased the town’s gasoline station, and bought two of their own ships — a $300k “insurance policy” that gave Parker tighter control over the supply chain in case of an emergency.

I feel like they left out a step between $3k and a frieght company with 2 ships.

[ashtonkem]

Occasionally ships can be had for extremely cheap when the former owner cannot afford the maintenance on it. It's more common with small pleasure craft, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear about small cargo ships being occasionally abandoned up there.

[nine_k]

Indeed: even if you get a ship for free, the crew is not free. Unless you're a certified captain already, you probably can't just operate the ship yourself. Also, now you have to pay for maintenance, fuel, mooring, loading and unloading cargo, etc. I suspect that $3k is not sufficient to start and sustain such an operation, so some steps are clearly missing.

(Can't help but remember Grim Fandango, where a similar transition between a small-time sales agent and a ship owner is made by writing "one year later" across the screen.)

[angry_octet]

My favourite example is Roman Abramovich, who somehow made the transition from reselling rubber ducks from his apartment in 1991 to having $100M to buy an oil company worth $3B, to obscene oligarch wealth a decade later.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Abramovich

[bitcoinmoney]

He is friends with Russian president.

[keiferski]

90s Russia was indeed a bizarre place.

[elipsey]

https://www.juneauempire.com/news/abandoned-tugboat-problem-...

[taneq]

Moving inventory on the existing ferry service and selling it at a profit?

[vulcan01]

I believe GP is criticising the journalism :)

[taneq]

Oh, that could be the case. I've always been too literal to ever be good at literary criticism. :P

[hadlock]

Used work boats are extraordinarily cheap, usually $10k for a 40' boat that's 16' wide, and then another 10-15K for a used marine diesel engine. Compare that to a fiberglass pleasure yacht where you might pay $30k for a 30' boat and 50K for a 40' sailboat used, plus 8-12k for a marine diesel engine.

Same goes for trucks, you can buy a brand new F-150 crew cab for $35,000 with all the fixings, or you can buy a 5-ton truck military surplus that can tow ten pickup trucks for $8,000.

[rosstex]

A small loan of a million dollars.