That's a good article.
Campbell, now a professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and master of the training ship Kennedy, said he’s also seen captains push to meet tight schedules, recalling a time when several other chemical carriers owned by competitors sailed out of the Port of Philadelphia into bad weather. His ship stayed put for three days, and arrived in Houston, safely, a day behind schedule. The other ships, he said, all had to sail to shipyards for repairs caused by the storm.
Yes... It is, in a sense, like a game. When I took my freighter to Italy in 1978, we left at the end of October from Philly. We then coasted down to Florida. When I booked my ticket, I asked how long it would take. They said maybe two weeks. That turned out to be six weeks.
I think we left Philly in late afternoon. Our first stop--to pick up cargo--was Hampton Roads, port of Virginia. On the way, we lost time helping with rescue efforts for a Coast Guard boat; a small one. But that took hours. So when we once again got under way, we'd already lost time. We then went to Hampton Roads, but there was a a storm approaching, so we stayed out to sea for another 24 hours or so. I no longer remember what other ports we hit, except for Savannah. But we lost a lot more time. Our last stop was Fernandina Beach, Florida. Weird town. Their relevant industry was making paper pulp. The whole place smelled like sulphur.
We were so very much behind that we'd used up the entire amount of booze that'd been opened for use before leaving US waters. In port, if we wanted to order pizza for delivery, we could. But not booze.
Once we left the States the transatlantic crossing took 13 days. We were supposed to make our first stop at Casablanca, but that was changed to Marseilles. The next stop was Savona, in Liguria. We were running behind, but the captain tried to beat out another ship for an available berth in Geneva but lost the race, and so were stuck with Savona.
I was suppoed to debark there, but going on to Greece and Yugoslavia only cost another $600, So I sprung for that.
I don't know if things are as uncertain today. But It must be less fun. Container ships rarely take passengers, and I gather that in order to find anything at all, you have to book at least a year in advance,
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
