To paraphrase the hotel concierge in Shanghai, why on earth are we living in Jiangyin?! It's a city of 1.2 million but the only way to get here is on "the bus with the farmers, and no one speaks English." And yet here we are.
Well, in June 2010 Brian came home from work one day, excited that he'd been offered a promotion.
In China. Jiangyin to be exact. If you follow the Yangtze upriver on the map, we're about 2 hours northwest of Shanghai.
The company Bri works for, CSL International, is building 7 new ships at the yard in Jiangyin and Brian was to be the contract manager. Deep down, I think we both knew we needed to accept the offer, but it still took us a month of waffling to make it official. Then we waited and waited for the green light from CSL to actually get on a plane. In January I quit my job of 6 years at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, thanked my lucky stars CSL was paying for movers, and painted our way out of the house in hopes to get it rented. February came, and we were off!
So we're here for about two years, or however long it takes to finish this project. They are building 2 Lakers and 5 Panamaxes. Thats ship talk for the biggest ships width-wise that'll fit through the St. Lawrence seaway and ditto for the Panama canal. All the ships are self-unloaders--open hulled ships that are fit with a system of conveyor belts and cranes so they are capable of unloading their cargo without any need for on shore equipment or labor. There's a good graphic and explanation here. My apologies to CSL for sending you a competitor; for all your bulk shipping needs, you know whom to call!
So we're here for about two years, or however long it takes to finish this project. They are building 2 Lakers and 5 Panamaxes. Thats ship talk for the biggest ships width-wise that'll fit through the St. Lawrence seaway and ditto for the Panama canal. All the ships are self-unloaders--open hulled ships that are fit with a system of conveyor belts and cranes so they are capable of unloading their cargo without any need for on shore equipment or labor. There's a good graphic and explanation here. My apologies to CSL for sending you a competitor; for all your bulk shipping needs, you know whom to call!
