We took a harbor cruise around Rotterdam as the meeting’s one big social event. It was drizzly and windy, but I still went out on deck for a few minutes as we passed through the commercial port.

There were several big ships that didn’t look like the usual tanker / container / vehicle carriers.

Above is the Allseas Solitaire, one of the largest deep sea pipe laying ships in the world.

That’s the Enercon E-Ship 1, used to transport wind turbine components. It’s a Flettner ship… those giant pillars spin around and create propulsion via the Magnus Effect (aka physics magic).

And finally, the Boskalis Windpiper, a subsea rock installation ship. Its job is to carefully lay rocks atop the cables and pipes on the bottom of the ocean so they don’t get jostled around by the current (and presumably making them harder to sabotage).

Gee whiz! These massive ships cost hundreds of millions of euros each. Hundreds of people spend their entire careers on each one doing whatever they do. All so I can push a button on my heat pump remote control on a chilly morning, boil water in the kettle, and post this to my blog. Makes you think…

And one final shot of the SS Rotterdam… a permanently docked hotel convention center… just as specialized as the ships above.