As long as we’re on the subject of shipbuilding, let’s backtrack a little. In earlier commentaries we mentioned our firm’s position with respect to the patent rights to a new type of container ship. This website, in fact, displays a Chronology indicating that on January 19, 1999 the U.S. Patent Office granted us Patent Number 5,860,783 for our CARGO CONTAINER STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM AND METHOD INCLUDING ON DECK CARRIAGE ASSEMBLY.

This abbreviated Chronology also indicates that an additional U.S. Patent (Number 6,077,019) was issued for a further 20 claims, and that International Patent applications were filed encompassing all the world’s nations having shipbuilding capabilities. Including South Korea.

South Korea’s shipbuilders leave no stones unturned when it comes to being on the cutting edge of shipbuilding. We know how intense Hyundai and Samsung can be because we’ve had meetings with officials from these firms. But we’ve bided our time, and Hyundai, Samsung and Daewoo officials have also taken a wait-and-see attitude.

After waiting more than eight years, however, the picture has changed. Not a flaw could be found in either our system or our application and as a result the Commissioner of the Korea Intellectual Property Office has issued Patent No. 10-0603227 to us. The exact Title of the Invention shown on the Commissioner’s Letters Patent documentation is exactly the way we applied for it, we might add: “Cargo Container Storage and Retrieval System and Method Including an On Deck Carriage Assembly”

With this in hand, and with Mr. John Fossey’s evaluation in mind, we intend to prod U.S. shipbuilders (and U.S. investors) to investigate the many advantages offered by our revolutionary system. With or without subsidization, when exclusivity, flexibility, cost effectiveness and employment opportunities are considered, wage-scale differentials vis-a-vis overseas workers will become meaningless.

Knowing that warships yield no monetary dividends to U.S. taxpayers who fund the construction of U.S. Navy combat ships, and knowing that container volumes will “double and even triple” in the coming decades, savvy investors will latch on to the opportunity of owning and operating these modestly-sized and modestly-priced vessels. These ships will make possible unheard of, and until now, unimaginable opportunities for logisticians, shippers and port authorities. Shuttered and moderately active ports will now be utilized as nearby gateways to U.S. consumers previously burdened by escalating transportation costs.

No longer will shippers seek alternative gateways outside the continental limits of the U.S., and no longer will vessels be required to offload cargo miles and miles from end users. The capability of these new container vessels to service small ports and to discharge a selected container, regardless of that container’s location within the ship’s bowels, will generate reduced expenses for shippers, higher profits for investors, and lower costs for U.S. consumers. [Attention, U.S. shipbuilders.]