After a customer places an order, MedBookStore relays it to this distributor, which ships the book but doesn't get paid until after Medsite does.

FORBES: What the doctor ordered

Amazon's online superstore has become the unlikely stage for 21st-century amateur comedy, where thousands of customers have submitted reviews for products ranging from the self-explanatory explanatory book "How to Avoid Huge Ships" to the Hutzler 571 banana slicer, a yellow plastic banana-shaped device that cuts bananas into even slices.

WSJ: These Amazon Products Are No Joke, But the Online Reviews Are

The glut of new container ships is ending, he notes: the current order book is only 24% of the existing fleet, down from 60% in 2008.

ECONOMIST: Shipping

This lessor of container ships was trading at just 0.22 times its book value in early 2010 amid fears that its top customer, France's CMA CGM, was on the brink of bankruptcy.

FORBES: Magazine Article