The cruise ships can provide housing for essential personnel-EMS, fire, police, utilities, port personnel, truck drivers, etc. All these people need shelter and rest during their off duty time. After Hurricane Ida, I worked in and around Port Fourchon, Galliano, and Grand Isle, Louisiana as a roving paramedic for the power restoration crews, and slept on board a really nice deepwater ROV/construction boat, the MV Island Intervention. After a 14 hour day, coming on board to a hot meal, clean clothes, and an air conditioned bed was a real hit.
A BIG YES to you 😊❤ and thank you for your service to others in need when everything personal is lost ❤ I remember Katrina. We stayed at Hattiesburg Mississippi and remember the Hotels "FULL" of first responder 😊❤ the Hotel we stayed in only because we had prior reservations. The Power kept going "OUT" People who had been displaced were LIVING in this hotel ( some later after FEMA had told them No more free stuff, the hotel could not get them out without PD help. Anyway back to power outage was from the displaced people just overloading there two outlets sockets with hotplates toaster ect 😮big Fire hazard. We were only there moving a vehicle of my inlaws back to Port Saint Lucie in Florida. Seeing the New Orleans from the window of the Aircraft flying over it just looks dark and terrible looking.
Where would they get water? They can't make water while in port and there will probably be no power for shore water connections. I doubt they would be allowed to discharge even treated sewage into the harbor.
@@saty580 They can go to a different port to unload those existing passengers, then deploy to assist in the diaster recovery. A bunch of them seem to be waiting out the storm near the Bahamas at the moment. That's only a day sail back to Florida. If they can offload at Miami (assuming the airport is able to operate and move them out of the area) it's a relatively short sail over to Tampa.
One thing US Navy ships can do is make water at sea and deliver it after the storm leaves. We did this for Jamaica in either 1962 or 1963 when I was onboard the USS Canberra CAG-2. To get in we had to go dead slow through massive amounts of debris 3 or 4 nautical miles out from the coasts. There were uncountable numbers of floating trees, houses, sheds, also solid layers of broken lumber, plant material and more as far as the eye could see. We continued to rotate in-and-out of port making water until their systems were restored. We also delivered a medical team with support to help their staff.
You should check out all the large ships in the gulf that are currently spraying chemtrails into hurricane Milton.. Can you say corruption? Because all these large transport companies are corrupted as hell.
YES I remember seeing the convoy of an out of state power company driving down the main freeway in Florida after previous Hurricanes😊❤😊 my hard hat is off to all these very long emergency workers restoring power. People don't understand how Hot and humid it gets in a home if Power is "OFF" you can't stay inside your house it's unbearable to live in. If your home loses power. The place my Inlaws had in Port Saint Lucie. The construction standards in their gated community were Very high. Rebar from cement footing to rafters cinder block construction. A big cement wall surrounds the development. All homes had automatic storm shutters for windows or a person can install them from storage in the garage. Most people in the gated community have installed underground gas power Generator 😊 They run off natural gas 😊 some had portable Generators with hook up plugin system for there heat pumps and fridge The people in their gated community do NOT want to get stuck in freeways with everyone else evacuating out or just trying to find "FUEL" a lot of the people would just all get together in say a home with a natural gas Gen Set. They also did not want to leave to secure the gated community from theft ( roving gangs) A big job that you do is cleaning off CB covers at the curb. There is so much storm down foliage that CB lids get plugged. That is even dangerous work after storms. Have found big ugly "SNAKES" who are hidden in the big leaves. And they are not happy critters Very pissed themselves for wondering what happened and I am ready to "BITE" this big heat signature that is moving this brush away from my temporary home. I did not know what was more Dangerous the critters of the looters that just wanted to go in empty homes. A lot of newer homes in Florida are built to a Hurricane standard in modern construction requirements. It's in Florida codes on building construction 😊 all the storm water if it drains into the CBs 😊 then it is piped to a big lake on site for recycling to water lawns later.
Thank you Sal. I think "I don't want to watch 20 minutes on shipping." But I can't resist! It's always time well spent to learn about what's going on with shipping. ;)
I’m in a manufactured home community in Sebring. There must be close to 100 pull behind fifth wheel campers here. Looks like most are now vacant as their occupants drove off in their tow vehicles and left them to become projectiles for the rest of the community. Luckily we’re not near them. But guarantee most if not all will be scattered all over the place tomorrow morning. Hopefully we will survive riding this out in our double wide home.
We really need a civil defense force that maintains stockpiles of raw materials, heavy construction equipment, and emergency housing (tents or cruise ships) as every state has some kind of semi-regular disaster. Something that can run a rescue operation with the same intensity as an invasion. One crews job will be to knock in some rough roads when roads are lost. That might be job one, clearing and fixing roads. Every time a disaster hits, loss of roads seems to be a really big problem.
The states that have regular disasters should be doing that instead of whatever reactionary culture war bull they spend their time indulging themselves in. Especially the ones who don't want interference from the federal government. Socialism is bad, except..... when its not.
@@rolandthethompsongunner64 The Navy got rid of the Seabees? There are going to be a lot of sailors in Port Hueneme, CA and Gulfport, MS who are going to disagree.
Or you could secure contracts with companies that are expert in the field anyway. Since major construction companies have huge government contracts anyway, you can reschedule work on some project, and airlift them (US has plenty of capacity) straight to where they needed most. Best guess is: To many people in the US government, which consider it socialism to provide disaster relief. Sabotage it to the point, where people agree to outsource it to some private contractor. Pro Tip for Voters: Anyone telling you government can only be bad is gonna make sure it is bad if elected. Just one example: Switzerland Government has contracts with the large super market chains, paying them to maintain a large reserve of food. Far cheaper, to just pay them the extra costs, rather than have your own government owned and operated system. Of course, it's important, that the politicians aren't to corrupt and use this to funnel money to companies.
During Super Storm Sandy it took days to get the electrical distribution system for the refineries and tank farms in the New York area dried out enough to safely reenergize it. The tanks were full but they couldn't be pumped out to be distributed.
the lhd and other amphibs are also designed to have their large diesel generators able to push power out to the shore to provide power...the lha had 1.5MW diesels..2 on each ship..the lhd class have similarly sized generators.
Thank you for posting. Here in the UK we all hope Milton won’t be so destructive, but your vlog gives deep insight and potential solutions for the aftermath. Best wishes to everyone and especially to those who will be dealing with the effects and clean up.
Thank you Sal I learn so much about shipping intricacies. The Jones Act is quite a net of rules of dos and don'ts. Fascinating to see the ships leaving the Tampa Bay Port facilities with their names shown. Barefoot shoes made my day though. From Ottawa Ontario many prayers, thoughts and best wishes of strength and prudence for y'all hey!
Thanks for this timely episode just hours before Hurricane Milton hits Florida west coast. I loved the Port of Tampa overview, including the oil terminals. Also liked seeing locations of dedicated US cargo vessels, and learning their importance. You bring a wealth of knowledge and advice! Great episode!
Awesome information. Lived in Florida my whole life both in Tampa and Naples. Currently Naples. Work in emergency medicine but the info I just learned in your vid just helped be to connect many dots! Thanx much. Great Lego globe! I have to go batten down the hatches now.
What a great idea Sal!! Utilizing the facilities available on the Cruise Ships to support the damaged infrastructure after Milton passes would benefit all - including replacing the revenue the cruise lines are going to lose anyway! I would love to see an episode covering what these big vessels do - once they clear the port and head to sea - apparently right into the path of what's coming. Do they just 'put-bow-towards-wind and ride it out', unanchored?
From the timelapse at the beginning, it looks like they were headed N/NW out of the path or S down the coast with quite a few sitting off of the E coast.
Previous after action report on Florida hurricanes listed lack of power at service stations was the biggest factor in distributing automotive diesel and gasoline. Some of the gas station chains have retrofitted their stations with generators. PS - Florida small craft owners are still trying to retrieve their boats from the last hurricane. Wonder how many small craft fled the area?
I like to stay up on the latest news and situations. I had never heard of your channel until the accident with the Scott Key bridge and now I can't go without watching your videos. Great information and production. Thank you for your hard work.
The cruise ship idea is already done by FEMA. I was housed on a cruise ship in the US Caribbean territories for a couple months doing hurricane response to Maria and Irma back in 2018. A lot of linemen for repairing electrical systems were also on board the cruise ship. Definitely the idea could be expanded to help house hurricane survivors too, though
I live in California, but I always end up watching you guys because of your entertaining and in-depth coverage of big events. Wish that didn't have to include destructive hurricanes, but such is life with nature. JB is a top shelf host.
Thanks for the update, Sal. Just been wathing Doug on SV Seeker doing his preps (I think he's in / near St Augustine). Different scale and different place, but 'same seas, different boats' as they say.
Desantis today mentioned they are working on provisions to offload fuel due to tampa bay being INOP. i was wondering if the truck convoys are shipping from Georgia or Pensacola? An interesting solution. Thankfully their road infrastructure is still intact.
I have some strong feelings about Cruise Ships in general...so putting those aside... but Florida could Very much use that kind of dockside support. Keep in mind the National Guard, FEMA, and others are going to be VERY busy doing the OUSTANDING work they do....I personally think a Cruise Line based out of Florida, should be REQUIRED to offer any and all possible aid as required or needed. I also think that the crew of those ships should be paid overtime, and be subject to US Labor laws and protections while doing it. Stay Safe
Sal has a ton of great ideas but most of them need months or even years to plan and set up. That means we should get started NOW, because the next hurricane is coming!
Military units are deliberately pre-positioned OUTSIDE the central impact area so supplies can follow them into the disaster area as they clear access routes further and further into affected areas. If they're pre-positioned INSIDE the disaster zone then they're just trapped and cut off like everyone else, and supplies can't start traveling into affected areas until they clear a route from the inside all the way out. That's assuming they CAN clear a route from the inside, and aren't cut off by a collapsed levee or toppled bridge.
Ships could be positioned in the Gulf of Mexico. Right now there are no indications that naval vessels have sailed from Norfolk. The ones out of Mayport are on storm diversion.
@@wgowshipping Any ships in Norfolk that may come to Florida are not going to sail until Milton has cleared out to the east. I guess they could get underway and loiter off the coast of VA or NC but that would be as far south as I would want to go and even that would be sketchy.
@@wgowshipping Yes, ships could loiter in the Gulf, but then they would be offloading into badly damaged ports surrounded by flooded roads. They may be planning to offload at undamaged eastern ports and deliver supplies overland across undamaged roads. I don't know what kind of transportation assets have been lined up.
@@jasminelindros8923 If they preload a Ready Reserve Force roll-on/roll-off vessel, that ship can come into port, drop the ramp and begin to clear roads and deliver aid right into the city. The problem with coming from outside the damage area is getting into the interior. That is what air does, but it is limited in capacity, vice maritime assets that can bring in a lot.
Sal, thank you for you valuable service before/after many disasters! I'm learning so much and realize I had an enormous gap in my knowledge of the world. [[An--hydrous is how you pronounce anhydrous. It obviously means without water and often means in crystalline compounds.]] Be safe everyone!
Thank you so much for another great video!🌬 🚢 Next time, could you talk about the best strategies of weathering a Milton sized storm for various ship types and sizes? I.e. staying in port vs. dropping ancor vs. sailing off shore.
The big issue with oil and fuel in a hurricane is when there is no power you are not moving fuel around and petrol stations will not be working also (a lot of people never figure out how much power petrol stations use - it is a lot of power) and for some reason very easy for them to end up with contaminated fuel as well. As my friends that got caught up in hurricane before this found out.
In emergency situations fossil fuels are essential. We cannot rely on lithium in flood situations as they pose a high risk. Something for the just stop oil folks to think hard about.
Lithium iron phosphate or LiFePo batteries are low risk for spontaneous combustion. You were thinking of lithium nickel cobalt batteries. Small appliances and some vehicles.
Port Tampa’s fuel rack operations were limited due to damage (surge) sustained from hurricane Helene. Our primary terminal, Marathon has not been operational since Helene’s passing. Citgo and Kinder Morgan were operational a couple of days after Helene with limited capacity. Both Buckeye terminals were on generator power. Our last drivers meeting regarding hurricane Milton painted a very grim outlook for fuel operations out of Port Tampa. We were told to prepare to relay transports to Port Everglades and Jacksonville. This being done to supply stations in the bay area who have power. Orlando’s Taft terminal (Kinder Morgan) has product. However, as you stated relies on resupply via pipeline from Tampa. It’s going to be some very interesting and long days ahead.
The 11 am EDT forecast has Milton making landfall south of Tampa Bay. But Tampa is still within the 30-40 nm uncertainty due to wobble during the day. Still the storm surge in the Bay is forecast at 10-12 ft.
Florida is long, a YT buddy of mine and I travelled 6 hrs from Orlando down to the Coral Castle. We got there just 12 minutes after closing. Maybe next time. Thanks Sal
he often says heck no to stuff like that. although there is certainly a case to be made for non-corrupt, actually skillful and knowledgeable people to help promulgate sound policy. But if one is gonna do it they gotta choose to have huevos of steel to go up against entrenched corrupt bureaucracy who don’t want to give up any of their bribes and kickbacks and will become very nasty against uncorrupt people who try upright things. Terrible problem, yet one that certainly must be face with courage, under fire.
Fuel in Jacksonville is going to NC/TN for Helene recovery. A lot went up there. All directions are coming to Jacksonville to get fuel and haul it via semi back to wherever.
I live in central FL. Helene completely removed the sea wall and up to 15 rows of homes from the beachfront. My friends home had 4’ of water and became beachfront property for a few weeks… he’s said goodbye as these homes now stand little chance. A LOT of people are in CFL to ride this out, the coast is hopefully empty. Pray for all the people hiding in CFL, they are the best hope for the state.
Another excellent video. While I have no professional connection with shipping per se, I'm always fascinated by the 'inside baseball' view of the shipping industry. More generally, I'm interested in infrastructure and economics, and your videos often/always bring those topics into the frame. As Milton is aiming at a major port and related infrastructure across the state, I'd love to see an HDA (hurricane damage assessment) related to the port/infra and the long/short-term impacts.
big fan of yours Sal, you always raise the right questions and i have to say again or even ask, have you ever thought to run for a job in authority where you can be such a massive influence and asset in these matters, getting shipping assets organised and on the move, so right, things need to be put in place well ahead of time
"Pressing this cruise lines into service" - Well since its USA they will have to be not only supplied but also paid handsomely. Because facing a choice "help people for free" or "loose business and wait" they will choose wait :)
Wondering how many ships heading into open water need to seek shelter from wind/waves by finding islands they can get behind, and how many are better off just heading into the wind and riding it out.
I’d like to see before and after of the port. It makes less difference than you would think that it falls from a cat 5 to a cat 3 unless much time has passed. Otherwise the storm surge hasn’t adapted and you still receive more surge than you would from a storm strengthening from a cat 2-3. Remember, Katrina was a 5 that weakened to a 3 upon making landfall and if you look at what it did to Mississsippi,often lost because of the attention on New Orleans, you will see what a weakened 5 can accomplish as compared to a strengthening 2-3.
The lack of fuel pipelines to Florida is a head scratching one. You would think it would be simpler to have a pipeline from gulf refineries to Florida?
It's already nasty outside here in Apollo Beach. I am at the very edge of the flood zone but the wind is still a serious concern. I put up shutters, charged the house battery and my generator is already on the porch.
Another good video Sal. Would you please consider doing a video tour of your bookcase? It would be interesting to see which books you find interesting.
One thing that always gets me in these situations is that although there are multiple companies around the country running "Duck tours" you never see one showing up to conduct water rescues. I know that the original engine driven Bilge pump makes it susceptible to swamping if the engine stalls but I know people replace these with electric pumps and there are even some "DUCKS" Being built out of the later series M-35s. One would think those companies could be given FEMA contracts to bring the vehicles in before a storm like this and make getting into and out of the flooded areas for rescues alot simpler.
