Article reports a protest group is claming that a container destined for Wal*Mart arrives at a US port every 45 seconds.
The group, WakeUpWalMart, raises the issue to point out the fact that only 5% are being checked by Homeland Security.
Dealing with the giant as part of my job, I really don’t have any reason to doubt their claim. Wal*Mart is the 600 pound gorilla in the global logistics business and the numbers that swirl around their empire are legendary.
- largest private employer in the United States
- largest grocery retailer in the US
- over 1,000 discount stores (US) and 2,200 Supercenters (US) and nearly 300 in Canada
- data storage of 460 terrabytes
They’re ruthless and they’re goal to drive costs down by pushing back against suppliers and 3rd party service providers like mine make them extremely difficult to deal with. Unfortunately, they hold so much clout that you can’t ignore them and they don’t seem to be going away any time soon.
As for the question of container inspection, fine in practice but a hell of a task. In 2005, it was estimated that 18 million containers were around and over 200 million trips were logged. That’s over 11 trips a year PER container. The largest container line, A.P. Moller-Maersk Group had, as of January 2006, 549 ships capable of containing 1,665,272 TEUs (stands for 20 Foot Equivalency – a 40′ can counts as 2 TEU). And they only accounted for 18% of the world’s total capacity.
eyeno Uncategorized Canada
Now that it appears I’m officially collecting aircraft memrobilia, I have to start clearing out my office to make room.
This week, I picked up this ashtray and a little snooping around the Net has gotten me really excited.
The ashtray commemorates the start of United Airlines’ scheduled DC-8 service in September 1959. On the side, it is imprinted with the name “R. A. Miller” but Google doesn’t lead me to much except a listing for a company of that name that produces avionics.
eyeno Uncategorized airline
Set out again this morning to work on the sunrise photos. It was supposed to be clear. Instead, the fog rolled in.
Sharp eyes will notice that this is the same tree shown in yesterday’s posting. A wider shot today from about the same angle. A stark outline against the gray skies.
eyeno Uncategorized
I was working at the Toronto Aerospace Museum in the Lancaster restoration area when a couple of new acquisitions came in.
A transmitter of the type used on the Lancaster bomber that is currently undergoing restoration. It was used to send bomb damage assessments and aircraft status via Morse code. One of the volunteers on hand mentioned that his mother used to be a listener during WWII and transcribed messages sent by devices like this.
An orignal Planisphere or star chart used by Allied navigators during WWII. The arrival of this item caused a crush of onlookers so I was unable to actually get any shots of the contents.
Remarkably, The London Name Plate Mfg. Co. Ltd still exists.
What was I doing in the Lancaster restoration area? Still working on those damm brackets for the display boards. Now I’m bead blasting the primer coating off the aluminum which involves this nasty bugger.
Turn the compressor on, pump up the air pressure, start the vibrator (for recovering the glass beads that do the blasting), safety goggles on, respirator on, pop the bracket into the chamber and blast away. Repeat 150 times.
eyeno Uncategorized Space, Toronto, toronto aerospace museum
Article reports a protest group is claming that a container destined for Wal*Mart arrives at a US port every 45 seconds. 
