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On Monday, a pipeline transporting molasses from a storage tank to a ship burst, spilling 233,000 gallons of sugary syrup into Honolulu Harbor. The disaster has devastated marine life and sent local agencies scrambling to clean up. But there was another obvious takeaway: Really, molasses moves in pipelines?
Yes, and it’s not alone.
Molasses
Length: Unknown
Where: Honolulu
Used by: Shipping company Matson Navigation
Status: Still active.
Length: .3 miles
Where: Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan
Used by: Smugglers
Status: Shut down by Kyrgyz customs officials in August.
Length: 1 mile
Where: Russia to Estonia
Used by: Smugglers
Status: Shut down by customs officials in 2008.
Length: 2 miles
Where: Belarus to Lithuania
Used by: Smugglers
Status: Shut down by customs officials in 2004.
Length: 650 feet
Where: Egypt to Gaza City
Used by: Smugglers, charging $27 for a 12-piece bucket of KFC.
Status: Still open. Maybe.
(Ed: This is more of a pipeline in a metaphorical sense, but it does pass through a tunnel.)
Length: 3.1 miles
Where: Gelensekirchen, Germany
Used by: Veltins Arena, home of the soccer club Schalke 04
Status: Still active.
Length: Unknown
Where: Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Used by: Canadian Club founder Hiram Walker, to transport mash from his distiller to his farm.
Status: No longer active.
Length: 1.2 miles
Where: Brazil
Used by: Cutrale, a Coca Cola subsidiary, to transfer fresh-squeezed juice from storage silos to pasteurization facility.
Status: Still open.
Length: TBD
Where: Montana to Minneapolis; Portland; or Lewiston, Idaho
Used by: Proposed by Montana legislature in the 1970s in response to rising freight transportation costs.
Status: Never built.
