"According to the usual course of action, we should be constantly transporting soldiers to the shore by now." On a transport ship, a sailor gazed at the busy beach in the distance and spoke to his companion.
Their transport ship had a displacement of about 12,000 tons, a remarkably large vessel. Yet within the fleet, it was a veritable tiny adorable matchbox when compared to other transport ships exceeding 30,000 tons.
This ship had a rather peculiar cargo to transport—not grains or rice, nor ammunition or weapons, and certainly not soldiers… it carried cement meant for road construction, as well as some engineering machinery.
The massive cranes aboard the ship were transferring cement packed in nets onto smaller transport boats, as its draft prevented the vessel from getting close to the shore.
Although the Great Tang Empire had already begun mainstreaming container ships, traditional transport vessels still occupied a large swath of the transportation market.
