Rogue Container Money $$$ ? Anyone?

[hellosailor]

Kacper-
Most Chinese can't afford a big cargo boat, but then again, neither can most Americans. If the boat is over there--someone can afford to use it. If it isn't over there, now you've got transportation, need working papers, business permit, commercial visa and 51% native business partner...Lots more expenses.
And a surprising number of Chinese speak English, or YnGlitch as it is sometimes known. There's a big national program to teach it before they host the Olympics, literally whole villages are being ordered to report to movie theatres and halls to take group lessons. "English, it ain't just for Lufthansa pilots anymore!"
Opportunities, yes. But as the Mandarin glyph for opportunity can also be read as chaos...Yes again. If you vet your source and he's legit, all you have to risk is a couple of grand in travel expenses and charter fees. OK, maybe ten fifteen grand by the time you buy some diesel. And, well, possibly the loss of a kidney or two while in a Chinese prison if you don't follow the commerce rules properly.
I honestly hope it makes you a millionaire like he is, I just wouldn't take bets on it. Even as a bookie!

[oscarzulu]

Here goes one of those "I seem to remember reading somewhere"... that there were 50,000 containers lost and floating at any given time. Also that they were floating because the highest ones stacked were packed with the lightest materials so as not to affect ship's stability.
In the article they were discussing ways that would remove these floating containers from being hazards to navigation, such as beacons and doors/panels that would fall off after being exposed to saltwater for a period of time.

[dman]

Listen up guys,alot of these are inside jobs.Some of these containers are being filled with worthless items and tossed over for the over inflated insurance.Then there`s filling the container with Kilo`s of coke,breaking the seal at sea and removing the dope,to toss over to a waiting boat near a port of entry.When leaving a source country it`s much easier to have it loaded on a container than to be brought on piece at a time.The container can be ditched anywhere along the way.When you are talking hundreds of millions ,participants can always be found.

[cockeyedbob]

I dunno ... seems like a lot of witnesses ...