Quote:
For over fifty years, the ocean-freight industry worked to make ocean freighters faster and to lower their fuel consumption. Despite considerable success, the economics of the industry grew worse, until the industry was almost dead. What was wrong was an incongruity between assumptions and realities. The real costs came, not from time spent at sea, but from time spent in port during loading and unloading.
Which of the following actions would be most likely to lead to a solution of the problem faced by the ocean-freight industry, as it is analyzed in the passage?
(A) Developing a ship’s engine that runs on a cheaper type of fuel than that traditionally used by ocean freighters
(B) Developing a ship with accessible cargo compartments that can be mechanically loaded and unloaded very rapidly
(C) Developing a ship whose freight capacity relative to the ship’s total volume is much larger than that of any existing ship
(D) Implementing a system to ensure that ocean freighters are loaded to capacity whenever they leave a port
(E) Implementing a marketing plan that focuses on routes that are known to be least threatened by unfavorable weather, thus permitting rapid trips and reliable arrival times
Background info: For over 50 years, the ocean-freight industry focused on optimizing fuel efficiency and speed, and they experienced considerable success.
Premise: Despite their success, the economics of the industry grew worse, until it was almost dead.
Premise: The assumption was that a large portion of the costs came from time at sea. The reality turned out to be that most of the costs were accrued in port during loading and unloading.
Conclusion. This mismatch between the assumption about cost drivers and the reality was the issue that caused the economics of the industry to deteriorate.
We’re looking for additional info that would help develop a solution.
A. Irrelevant. The argument establishes that the fuel consumption is already being addressed, and it's not adequately helpful.
B. This could help decrease time spent in port, so it could lead to a solution.
C. More freight without faster loading and unloading would mean more time at port. Maybe it would be offset by fewer trips, but this answer isn’t clear enough to be helpful.
D. There’s nothing in the argument that suggests it’s a capacity issue. It’s a time loading and unloading issue.
E. This is a different approach to improving speed, but it’s stated that the industry has already made great strides in improving speed and efficiency, and their economic problems remain.
Best answer is B.