container ship

The six-day blockage threw the cargo transport world into temporary disarray, and forced us all to think about the invisible, indispensable role of container ships in the global economy.

As the Judith Schulte approached the port of Los Angeles, dozens of other container ships were bringing goods from Asia, too.

The new decree by Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s infant government that prohibits passenger ships over 40,000 tons, as well as container ships, from passing close to the historical city center is backed by environmentalists and many Venetians.

You could see the routes of planes landing at LaGuardia and the schedules of container ships arriving at the mouth of the Hudson River.

The industry also is grappling with staffing shortages while seeing unprecedented demand for its services, a situation that worsened when a container ship ran aground last month in the Suez Canal and blocked the crucial waterway for nearly a week.

Almost everything you own and consume came to you via a container ship, but we know almost nothing about the industry.