Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by 0cf8612b2e1e 1256 days ago
The Ever Given that got stuck in the Suez, was carrying $750+ million worth of cargo. I do not see how a few sailors on hand does anything for the profitability of the ship. Even if they were idle 99% of the time, seems like a reasonable investment.
1 comments

Cargo value seems irrelevant to profitability. I wonder what the actual cost and profit for a cargo ship
Fine, but it stands for a proxy for the money involved. Nobody is going to agree to underwrite a voyage worth the better part of a billion on an automated ship. The largest container ships cost well over $100 million.
On that front I agree. The largest ships now push 200 million to build and cost maybe 100k a day to operate. When you're looking at operational and financing expenses of that magnitude, labor seems like a very small portion