Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Offshoring to a Ship in International Waters

Posted by samzenpus on from the geek-loveboat dept.

JasdonLe writes "Sourcing Mag posted an article about Roger Green and David Cook, who hope to avoid US visa regulations that usually accompany outsourcing, with their company SeaCode, and a used cruise ship, sitting in international waters three miles off the coast of Los Angeles.""

9 of 800 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Is it April Fools Day? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That was my thought as well, but then I realized that they're going to need a LOT of diesel just to keep the lights on. On land, you'd sinply run off the grid. But on a boat, their entire power capacity is going to be supplied by the ships engines or generators. Those aren't quite as power hungry as when the ship is under power, but with the number of electronic toys they're going to need, it's not going to be cheap either.

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  2. Baloney by dpud1234 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This must be a fake ....

    Notice how their first "Company News" lists an Article-FORBES with no link. If you go to Forbes.com and search their site for "SeaCode" you get: "Sorry, your search for SeaCode did not return any Documents. Please revise your search and try again."

    Besides, 3.1 miles makes no sense as your not in international waters.

    1. Re:Baloney by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yah, I can't understand how anyone is buying this crap. The logistics simply don't work. Cruise ships cannot remain offshore -- not even 200 feet offshore -- for more than a few weeks. You can't reprovision these things with tenders. You can't scrape and paint the bottom with dolphins. It's a giant expense for no particular purpose. A cruise ship costs many many many millions of dollars a year to operate, just sitting there.

      Nobody can quite figure out what restrictions they're avoiding 3.1 miles offshore anyways. Their chart shows them INSHORE of Catalina Island, for god's sake. They're in Los Angeles County.

      These guys are scamming the press, and laughing their asses off.

  3. Re:They need to do their homework... by Holi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since the company is incorporated in California, I am sure they will be paying taxes in the US. It has more to do with skirting immigration laws and visas then evading taxes. That, and OSHA requirements and wage laws.

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
  4. Re:Is it April Fools Day? by TGK · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If I were them I wouldn't be exploiting the lack of labor laws. You can only expect people to be so productive in something as fundamentaly brain draining as CS if you run them into the ground.

    The lawlessness I'd exploit would be COPYRIGHT. Seriously.... the MPAA and the RIAA have been successfull in shutting down or going after distribution networks, never the root uploaders or the downloaders.

    Set up a blatently illegal server system well off shore, enjoy the benefits of satellite based internet access. Sell movies and music an pennies on the dollar at high quality....

    .
    .
    .

    oh yea....

    3. Profit!

    --
    Killfile(TGK)
    No trees were killed in the creation of this post. However, many electrons were inconvenienced.
  5. Re:Is it April Fools Day? - must be by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Umm... no. The ship, being of US registry, can be confiscated and searched by US authorities. Not to mention that the US *has* enforced its borders beyond its 3 mile claim in the past.

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  6. Re:Is it April Fools Day? by WebCrapper · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "...work for almost nothing in exchange for having no taxes, no expenses and no home to maintane."

    Gee, you just described the US Military...

  7. Re:Is it April Fools Day? by ikkonoishi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nah nuclear all the way.

    Follow the lead of the US Aircraft carriers aka "The cities that float"

  8. Re:Is it April Fools Day? by EinarH · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Ships often use cheaper bunker oil instead of diesel so it might even work out to their advantage.
    I think you are wrong here. They can't bunker all they need ashore as a cruise ship is designet for a capacity around two weeks. Have you seen the rates on supply ships lately? I don't know about Gulf of Mexico or California but in the Noth Sea you had to pay ~$15000 a day last week for a "decent sizeed" supply ship. Even if they only need to hire such a ship for a couple of days each month (for oil, diesel, food etc.)it would quickly eat up much of their profit.

    And how about bandwith? The best thing would be to rent a T3, if that is enough, and lay a cable. But subsea stuff like that is quite expensive.

    And I doubt they could get away with the 3 nm distance. More like 12 nm.

    How about security and piracy. Did they think about that? Doubt so. And safety regulations? On both oil platforms and cruise ships everyone that works there needs to take a (two?) weeks safety course. Lots of $ there too.

    What about waste/sewage? I'm sure the supply ship can handle that too. Only $15000.

    And how long do they think coders are willing to stay on this ship before they _need_ some R&R? I'd say max 4 weeks. What then? How do they get visas so they can visit LA? And how do they get back to LA anyway? What about productivity and retaining workers?

    This is a shitty idea.

    --

    Melius mori in libertate quam vivere in servitute.