Blocked ship spotlights ports, trade
Continued investment in Port of Virginia supplies commonwealth with jobs, goods
Free at last. It appeared that the container ship Ever Given might be ever grounded, stuck in a compromising angle in the rocky clay soil of the Suez Canal. The ship — one of the largest of its kind in the world — finally moved early Monday morning, saved by tugs, tides (a full moon helped) and vigorously prayerful expression. It then sailed on its way.
Seldom has a wedged vessel thrown world trade into such a tizzy or caused so much consternation. The back-up at either end of the canal — which connects the Mediterranean with the Red Sea — rapidly became pronounced over six days with more than 300 ships anchored, waiting.
There are things to take away from this, including an object lesson about Virginia’s economy, how it connects to the world and what that means to our region’s success.
Good thing that Virginia has been investing in its ports and we’ll get to that.
Since we periodically suffer from disconnects, now hear this: We do water around here and have since there’s been a “we.” We build to get over, under and through the water. We trade by the water and dispatch sailors to ply the water. We employ channel pilots and longshoremen. We fish, fish, fish. We do all these things.
Only sometimes we lose track of what’s happening.
Want some fun insight into trade and shipping? Then pick up a copy of the
2013 book by British writer Rose George: “Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate.”
After spending time on one of these giant, stretched container ships, she came to the conclusion that, “The more ships grow in size and consequence, the less space they take up in our imagination.”
In other words, in our own self-focused mind’s eye, we do not see what’s going on and how much we’re dependent upon it.
Take a gander at this, too: FleetMon. com, a public vessel and data collection website for “Tracking the Seven Seas.”
This operation homeports on the Baltic Sea in the Hanseatic city of Rostock, Germany, a vital link in the global swing of things.
You know, just like Norfolk. Only we don’t go back to the 11th century in this line of work.
FleetMon.com shows a vast armada of moving symbols, graphically depicted ships across the world — many in number, many in cubic feet displaced and many, we’re happy to say, running in and out of the Port of Virginia.
That would not be happening, however, if our ports were not competitive. But $800 million invested in recent years have made them so. No other port, from Halifax to Florida, can beat Virginia’s efficiency.
And by 2024, Virginia will have the deepest and widest channels available on the East Coast.
Why is that important? Because it allows the Port of Virginia to stay ahead of a revolution in global movement. Once upon a time, cargo got packed and transported loose in crates, barrels and sacks.
Small armies of workers muscled the freight from deck to dock.
Then came the box. Containers. And it “unleashed a huge expansion of trade during the latter half of the 20th century,” reports the Financial Times. “Seaborne container volumes have increased nearly every year over the past four decades.”
Did the COVID-19 pandemic puts the brakes on? Some thought it might.
No. Global trade and shipping proved resilient.
Even so, prior to the Ever Given incident, logjams at U.S. ports were already creating bottlenecks, with ships waiting for berths. The global economy is set to take off this year.
Again, port efficiency is the name of the game. That determines the winners and losers.
With one of every 10 jobs in Virginia connected to port activity and those jobs generating $23 billion in pay and benefits, there’s no question that money invested in the Ports of Virginia reaps a spectacular reward.