This is just cool. Instead of having a large number of people laboring w/ ropes to secure the ship, powerful electro-magnets would secure the ship to the dock. The gentle press of a button could soon be all it takes to keep a giant ship secured to the dockside. The port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands is getting ready to test an experimental system later in 2003 that will use a series of strong electromagnets built into the quay to moor giant container ships. (Full text here (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/18/2014230))Previous attempts had been discarded because the magnetic fields could not be sufficiently directed and would adversely effect any electronic cargo. However new advances in our ability to control the strength and shape of the magnetic field have now made the technology possible.

:m: Peace.

I have the feeling I've seen this before...