Imagine, though, a more permanent breakdown. These events were temporary, if expensive. Read: The ship stuck in the Suez Canal is glorious
A few months later, largely because of disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, more than 100 container ships were stacked up outside the California Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, snarling supply chains throughout the country. In 2021, the grounding of the container ship Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal, forcing vessels shuttling between Asia and Europe to divert around Africa, delaying their passage and driving up costs. View MoreĮvery now and again, Americans are suddenly reminded of how much they depend on the uninterrupted movement of ships around the world for their lifestyle, their livelihood, even their life. Because freedom of the seas, in our lifetime, has seemed like a default condition, it is easy to think of it-if we think of it at all-as akin to Earth’s rotation or the force of gravity: as just the way things are, rather than as a man-made construct that needs to be maintained and enforced.īut what if the safe transit of ships could no longer be assumed? What if the oceans were no longer free?Ĭheck out more from this issue and find your next story to read. The current reality, which dates only to the end of World War II, makes possible the commercial shipping that handles more than 80 percent of all global trade by volume-oil and natural gas, grain and raw ores, manufactured goods of every kind. Pirates, predatory states, and the fleets of great powers did as they pleased. But for most of human history, there was no such guarantee. V ery few Americans-or, for that matter, very few people on the planet-can remember a time when freedom of the seas was in question. This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday.
0 kommentar(er)
