Just a question on shipping: During normal times without the trump tariff madness...

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when cargo-lade ships arrive at our ports for dock workers to do unload them, do they then get loaded with goods for return?

That seems to make sense as a ship returning empty is not good for anyone. Just curious, as these are not normal times.

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1. There's an entire industry managing such shipping logistics

Yes, they certainly try to reload with full containers and move on to another port (not necessarily back to the port they came from) to the extent possible. They try to minimize the time they travel empty, but sometimes it happens. Sometimes they also need to ship empty containers to where they are needed.

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4. Good info. Thanks.

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2. Yes, although China import cargo exceeds our export cargo to them. Due to

the trade imbalance the ships also haul empty containers back to Asia.

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3. Thank you for the info. I hadn't thought of the empty cargo containers.