Think rates have taken a hit in trucking? Have a look at this:

people do make a good buck scrapping ships. the mexican carhartt's aren't the same. On jackets they switched from real sizes (44,46,48, 50, etc) to SMLXL sizing. I bought a store in my area OUT of my size of the last of their american made stuff when Carhartt switched. I'm only 34 but I bought the jacket I'll be using when I die that day.

 

My fecal matter detector went into high gear after reading that quote. You see, I spent a tad over 30 years booking freight from overseas, contracting with factories to make consumer related products, import them, and sell them to major retailers and brand name companies in the US.

So I checked current shipping rate quotes from Asia to US ports, and indeed they are a tad bit lower than last year, about 4-6% lower. The rates dropped to their lowest in 2009-2010, but started to climb again in 2011-2012. Now they are dropping slightly.

I think the rates quoted as $50,000 per day and $300,000 are the "burden rates" associated with operating a loaded vessel. The burden rate includes fuel, insurance, and crew. The lower figures are the cost for anchoring a vessel with a skeleton crew, with no cost for fuel and minimal cost for insurance.

The way the article was worded it seemed they were quoting actual costs of operating a loaded vessel. The writer could have been more careful in how that paragraph was worded to be more clear and accurate.