WTH Job Interview

[CJones]

That looks similar.

What is it you do?

That looks like truck cubing (or whatever they call it). Trying to balance the load between the axles, cube out the trailer as best you can, and keep it inside of DoT weight regulations (in total and on each axle). I worked in the Logistics group for Anheuser-Busch for 8 years, even as a programmer you pick up a few things.

Correct me if I'm wrong of course

Bingo. That is a load plan for a 53' semi trailer. Idea is to maximize the cube while while distributing the weight across the axles correctly. As with most things, it works well...... most of the time.

I'm a Operations Systems Manager for a 3rd party logistics provider.

 

[nddons]

We "were" Horizon lines
Matson (our biggest competitor) just bought us out.

They didn't need us as much as they needed us gone. They are probably scrapping all of our ships as they are 60 years old and diesel.

They are getting our Anchorage, Kodiak, Dutch Harbor tradelane
and our 400 million in debt.

Our Hawaii tradelane went to a mom and pop carrier called Pascha (never herd of them)

I am sure once Matson takes over everything will be done differently and faster.
Probably cheaper too as their vessels are less expensive to maintain.

We also had a San Juan tradelane but we were losing money on it so we just finished shutting it down.

Now that I am out of the business, I would love to see the Jones act go away.
It is screwing America on domestic shipping costs beyond belief.

Aren't they all diesel?

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

Aren't they all diesel?

Liquid Natural Gas is the big thing now. It is cheaper and more efficient.
We still have a couple steam powered ships.

 

[N801BH]

We "were" Horizon lines
Matson (our biggest competitor) just bought us out.

They didn't need us as much as they needed us gone. They are probably scrapping all of our ships as they are 60 years old and diesel.

They are getting our Anchorage, Kodiak, Dutch Harbor tradelane
and our 400 million in debt.

Our Hawaii tradelane went to a mom and pop carrier called Pascha (never herd of them)

I am sure once Matson takes over everything will be done differently and faster.
Probably cheaper too as their vessels are less expensive to maintain.

We also had a San Juan tradelane but we were losing money on it so we just finished shutting it down.

Now that I am out of the business, I would love to see the Jones act go away.
It is screwing America on domestic shipping costs beyond belief.

Do tell sir.....

 

[Bill]

New cars rarely go in containers, mostly they go in huge box ships.

Skidded turn!

 

[Henning]

We "were" Horizon lines
Matson (our biggest competitor) just bought us out.

They didn't need us as much as they needed us gone. They are probably scrapping all of our ships as they are 60 years old and diesel.

They are getting our Anchorage, Kodiak, Dutch Harbor tradelane
and our 400 million in debt.

Our Hawaii tradelane went to a mom and pop carrier called Pascha (never herd of them)

I am sure once Matson takes over everything will be done differently and faster.
Probably cheaper too as their vessels are less expensive to maintain.

We also had a San Juan tradelane but we were losing money on it so we just finished shutting it down.

Now that I am out of the business, I would love to see the Jones act go away.
It is screwing America on domestic shipping costs beyond belief.

Well, the Jones Act ships are also the only ones making money right now, and is the only thing keeping the local industry viable. If it wasn't for Jones act there would be no US seamen anywhere, and all our local waters would be filled with Asian crews making $1000 a month.

 

[jsstevens]

Skidded turn!

Well, when they bank properly people get nervous!

 

[Matthew]

Skidded turn!

Right rudder! Right rudder!

 

[N801BH]

Skidded turn!

Yup... Now that is "hard over rudder".........

Boat looks damn stabile though

 

[Bill]

VC money isn't "get rich slow" money. It's "maybe this investment will pay for my next boat" money. VCs want their payback in very short timeframes measured in low single digit numbers of years.

I'd treat this as a two year job and that's it.

That was my experience working for a company funded by VC. It didn't make the return they were looking for so the doors were chained at 2 years almost to the day.

 

[N801BH]

That was my experience working for a company funded by VC. It didn't make the return they were looking for so the doors were chained at 2 years almost to the day.

A deal is a deal......

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

Do tell sir.....

Jones Act says any ship going from America to America
Mainland, HI, Guam, Alaska, Puerto Rico, etc must be American company, American made ship, and American crew.

"American ship is the kicker"
you can get a ship built in many other places for 1/20 the price that it costs to have them made in the U.S.

This act prevents foreign vessels from handling any domestic shipping.
Maersk ships can come from China to here but then they have to leave. They cant go from China to Alaska to Tacoma, etc

It is cheaper to ship a container from the Us to china than it is to ship it from Tacoma to Anchorage because of the high prices associated with American vessel costs.

As a result all the foreign carriers are building these massive boats that are 5-10 knots faster, burn less fuel and carry more freight.

Our ships were still the old ones left over from the 50s because we couldn't afford to get new American made ships.




That has very little to do with why my company is going out of business.

There was some illegal crap going on and its all public:
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/horiz...fixing-coastal-water-freight-services-between

A lot of lawsuits came out of that.
Additionally the company was artificially inflated to double its price and sold twice in a year

With a value of 150 mil, it was sold for 300 mil and 9 months later sold again for 600 mil

When the dust settled this company had 450 mil in debt now and then the illegal stuff started and we were up to 750 mil in debt at one point. Around then, we got kicked off the NYSE and the spiral continued.

The IT job there was awesome but the folks at the top effed it up for everyone. A few guys went to jail but no worries, the CEO got let go and was given something like a 90k per month pension. They showed him!

 

[Henning]

Jones Act says any ship going from America to America
Mainland, HI, Guam, Alaska, Puerto Rico, etc must be American company, American made ship, and American crew.

"American ship is the kicker"
you can get a ship built in many other places for 1/20 the price that it costs to have them made in the U.S.

This act prevents foreign vessels from handling any domestic shipping.
Maersk ships can come from China to here but then they have to leave. They cant go from China to Alaska to Tacoma, etc

It is cheaper to ship a container from the Us to china than it is to ship it from Tacoma to Anchorage because of the high prices associated with American vessel costs.

As a result all the foreign carriers are building these massive boats that are 5-10 knots faster, burn less fuel and carry more freight.

Our ships were still the old ones left over from the 50s because we couldn't afford to get new American made ships.




That has very little to do with why my company is going out of business.

There was some illegal crap going on and its all public:
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/horiz...fixing-coastal-water-freight-services-between

A lot of lawsuits came out of that.
Additionally the company was artificially inflated to double its price and sold twice in a year

With a value of 150 mil, it was sold for 300 mil and 9 months later sold again for 600 mil

When the dust settled this company had 450 mil in debt now and then the illegal stuff started and we were up to 750 mil in debt at one point. Around then, we got kicked off the NYSE and the spiral continued.

The IT job there was awesome but the folks at the top effed it up for everyone. A few guys went to jail but no worries, the CEO got let go and was given something like a 90k per month pension. They showed him!

There are two exceptions (actually 3) to the 'American Built' rule. First off, that's not the rule, the rule is the keel has to be laid in the US. One can conceivably lay the keel in the US then ship it to Korea for completion, that is the third method. The other two are actually practical. If you replace 3/4rs of the bottom at a US yard, you can qualify for Jones Act status. Also if you buy the vessel through a US Marshal's auction, you can at the time of documentation ask for and be granted Jones Act status.

Who else was involved in the price fixing? I used to run that route for Crowley.

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

There are two exceptions (actually 3) to the 'American Built' rule. First off, that's not the rule, the rule is the keel has to be laid in the US. One can conceivably lay the keel in the US then ship it to Korea for completion, that is the third method. The other two are actually practical. If you replace 3/4rs of the bottom at a US yard, you can qualify for Jones Act status. Also if you buy the vessel through a US Marshal's auction, you can at the time of documentation ask for and be granted Jones Act status.

Who else was involved in the price fixing? I used to run that route for Crowley.

Here are the deets
http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMVII/2008may00083.html

 

[N801BH]

Jones Act says any ship going from America to America
Mainland, HI, Guam, Alaska, Puerto Rico, etc must be American company, American made ship, and American crew.

"American ship is the kicker"
you can get a ship built in many other places for 1/20 the price that it costs to have them made in the U.S.

This act prevents foreign vessels from handling any domestic shipping.
Maersk ships can come from China to here but then they have to leave. They cant go from China to Alaska to Tacoma, etc

It is cheaper to ship a container from the Us to china than it is to ship it from Tacoma to Anchorage because of the high prices associated with American vessel costs.

As a result all the foreign carriers are building these massive boats that are 5-10 knots faster, burn less fuel and carry more freight.

Our ships were still the old ones left over from the 50s because we couldn't afford to get new American made ships.




That has very little to do with why my company is going out of business.

There was some illegal crap going on and its all public:
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/horiz...fixing-coastal-water-freight-services-between

A lot of lawsuits came out of that.
Additionally the company was artificially inflated to double its price and sold twice in a year

With a value of 150 mil, it was sold for 300 mil and 9 months later sold again for 600 mil

When the dust settled this company had 450 mil in debt now and then the illegal stuff started and we were up to 750 mil in debt at one point. Around then, we got kicked off the NYSE and the spiral continued.

The IT job there was awesome but the folks at the top effed it up for everyone. A few guys went to jail but no worries, the CEO got let go and was given something like a 90k per month pension. They showed him!

Thanks.... The whole story screams UNION to me......

Not that they ever *ucked anything else up.............

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

Thanks.... The whole story screams UNION to me......

Not that they ever *ucked anything else up.............

Man we have a lot of union labor.
I have strong opinions about them.

My favorite moment was when a developer in Dallas wrote a code to generate some reports that one of the union guys had been running manually. That guy filed a grievance on this developer.

We decided to quit helping streamline things at that point.
It is a dumbass system. Those guys negotiated that if they work 4 hours and 1 minute, they get paid for 8 so you have to keep em busy.

 

[Henning]

Here are the deets
http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMVII/2008may00083.html

Ok, yeah, I figured that would eventually happen. It's not particularly new and gives me a chuckle to see Crowley and Seabridge on the list, and I'll leave that at that.

That's not really a Jones Act issue though, that is a greed issue. All that would happen if you eliminated the Jones Act is rather than greed manifesting itself as high prices, greed would manifest itself in poorly maintained and poorly crewed vessels and higher losses.

 

[nddons]

It is a dumbass system. Those guys negotiated that if they work 4 hours and 1 minute, they get paid for 8 so you have to keep em busy.

Ah, the wisdom of having unions negotiate workplace rules. Thank God my governor took that away from the Wisconsin public sector unions.

 

[LoneAspen]

My favorite moment was when a developer in Dallas wrote a code to generate some reports that one of the union guys had been running manually. That guy filed a grievance on this developer.

I used to work for an IT company doing work at a major automobile manufacturer years ago. One time, we had to go into one of the plants to take a tour and learn more about the environment, and as we were walking past, there was this one union worker struggling to move a heavy barrel of parts a few feet out of the way.

One of our guys stepped over to help him move it, and then a few days later got a grievance filed against him.

Our office happened to be located onsite in one of the old plant buildings, and we couldn't so much as plug in a computer without getting a union electrician to plug it in for us. Of course, we had to wait for days for him to show up.

Those, and a multitude of other stupid things we experienced firsthand, pretty much cemented my opinion of unions forever.

 

[nddons]

I used to work for an IT company doing work at a major automobile manufacturer years ago. One time, we had to go into one of the plants to take a tour and learn more about the environment, and as we were walking past, there was this one union worker struggling to move a heavy barrel of parts a few feet out of the way.

One of our guys stepped over to help him move it, and then a few days later got a grievance filed against him.

Our office happened to be located onsite in one of the old plant buildings, and we couldn't so much as plug in a computer without getting a union electrician to plug it in for us. Of course, we had to wait for days for him to show up.

Those, and a multitude of other stupid things we experienced firsthand, pretty much cemented my opinion of unions forever.

Fantastic. I'll bet you never had a better plugged in cord in your life. But hey, if not for unions, you'd be working on Sundays side by side with little children. So suck it up, and pay your dues.

 

[catmandu]

Fantastic. I'll bet you never had a better plugged in cord in your life. But hey, if not for unions, you'd be working on Sundays side by side with little children. So suck it up, and pay your dues.

Well then, obviously there is no union for the clergy.