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Issue 2 2013


///FREIGHT BREAK Is FedEx faster than the Internet?


Who has more bandwidth – the Internet or FedEx? An interesting question posed on the ‘What if?’ website recently (http://what-if. xkcd.com) – and, surprisingly, the answer is the parcels carrier. Moreover, it looks likely to be that way for a good few years yet, if not indefinitely. The gas bill in the post may be


fast fading into history, and email has replaced most letters between friends and family, but when it comes to transferring larger amounts of data - a few hundred gigabytes upwards – it is still oſten faster to put them on a hard drive and despatch it by express parcels than to try and send it over the Internet. Moreover, says the website,


internet hardware provider Cisco estimates that total internet traffic currently averages 167 terabits per second. But FedEx has 654 aircraſt with a liſt capacity of 26.5 million lbs daily. A solid-state laptop drive


weighs about 78 grams and can hold up to a terabyte. That means FedEx is capable of transferring 150 exabytes of data per day, or 14 petabits per second - almost a hundred times the current throughput of the internet. (I’ve no idea what terabits, exabytes or petabits are but they sound very impressive.) But will the Internet ever catch up? According to What if? Cisco


estimates that Internet traffic is growing at about 29% annually and would match FedEx’s capacity by 2040. However, that ignores the fact that the amount of data that can fit on a hard drive will also have gone up thanks to improved data storage technology. The only way that the Internet could catch the carrier would be if transfer rates grow much faster than storage rates - unlikely, since the two are fundamentally linked, argues the website. There are though a few


experimental fibre clusters that can handle over a petabit per second – and a cluster of 200 of those would be faster FedEx. However, if you take into


account not just FedEx but the entire US freight industry (let’s not forget UPS or indeed DHL and TNT) all flying hard drives about, the throughput would be about 500 exabits—half a zettabit—per second – equivalent to half a million of those petabit cables. So it looks as though the


Internet will probably never beat the carriers. Google has recently taken on


what is apparently the largest data transfer exercise ever - moving virtually all the data and images collected by the Hubble space telescope which comes to about 120 terabytes (that’s 120,000,000,000,000 bytes to you and me). And how did they do it? By parcelling it all up and calling FedEx, of course.


Rivals in love Destination Croydon


Could the once-proud name of Croydon once again figure in global aviation? It might, if one of the editor’s local councillors and Croydon Greater London Authority member, Steve O’ Connell has his way. Mr O’ Connell says that he has held talks with Gatwick’s chief executive about rebranding Gatwick as “Croydon International” which, he says, would turn the borough into an “economic powerhouse”. According to a report in the


Croydon Advertiser, he also told a London Assembly meeting that


“Gatwick is Croydon’s first and best international connection, and it only makes sense to link it by name to this recognisable part of London”. Students of aviation history


will know of course that Croydon was not only London’s but arguably the world’s first purpose- built airport, and had the first ever purpose-built control tower. (The latter, along with the original terminal, still stands and is open to the public on occasional Sundays.) However, other locals warn Mr


O’ Connell not to get too carried away with his enthusiasm. Not only is Gatwick a full ten miles from the nearest part of the borough of Croydon, but in these days of satnavs,


it could cause


endless confusion. Even though it is over half a century since it last hosted a commercial flight, locals still refer to the place as Croydon Airport; there is a large business centre on the site of the old airport and the former airport hotel is still very much in business – and until very recently the name still figured on bus destination blinds.


Every St Valentine’s day, rivalry breaks out among the world’s airlines as they boast about how many tonnes of flowers they have shiſted from the growing regions to wives, girlfriends and mistresses all over the world. Once again, Luſthansa Cargo


flew millions of red roses on fully- laden freighters to Europe for Valentine’s Day on 14 February. All


told in the next few days, the cargo carrier shipped around 1,000 tonnes from Africa and South America to Europe via its main Frankfurt hub. And, anticipating the inevitable


complaints from the green faction, Luſthansa cites a study from Britain’s Cranfield University which argues


that airfreighted


flowers are more environmentally- friendly than those cultivated in Europe - which require artificial irrigation and heated greenhouses. Not to be outdone by its German


rival in love, IAG Cargo, the single business


created following the


merger of British Airways World Cargo and Iberia Cargo, said it would carry nearly 800 tonnes


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Marco Polo, the world’s largest containership - all 16,020teus of it – isn’t just a cargo carrier. Owners CMA CGM say that passenger accommodation is now available on board the giant vessel, the equivalent of four football pitches and bigger than the Empire State Building. The line is promising travellers


“a unique and unforgettable experience” in double modern cabins of 20sq m each, a lounge


of flowers in the run up to the 14th. The most common variety of flowers carried by IAG Cargo are roses and carnations from Ecuador, Colombia, Kenya, Costa Rica, Guatemala and South Africa. They were kind enough to send


us a picture too – but I’ll leave it up to readers to judge which airline came up with the most romantic illustration.


with TV equipment, a library, a fitness room and even a swimming pool. Ports of call include Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Yantian,


Port Kelang, Tanger and, perhaps less romantically, Southampton, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge. Cost is €140 per day and per


person.


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