Made on Earth (9 page)

10 October 2005

The
World Star
reaches the Spanish port of Algeciras, near Gibraltar. Five hours have been allocated to unload 300 containers. Only ten containers will be loaded back onto the ship. Even if more time was available, none of the crew would disembark here. The captain and his officers have to be there for the loading and unloading of the ship. It would be too expensive to hire a team to work overnight in Spain.

If the rest of the crew did decide to grab a taxi and have a few beers in a local bar, it would burn a big hole in their pockets. The majority of the crew aren’t particularly well paid, and their families back at home receive the majority of their monthly wages of €1,000 to €1,200 euros (about £675 to £810 pounds). It’s worth noting that although the ship’s crew travel the world for a living, they don’t actually get to see much of it. All ports look exactly the same. One of the few upsides of the job is that the shipping company pays for them to fly home to see their families every six months. Twice a year they see their wives, children and parents. The captain and the officers get an even better deal; they get to go home every three months.

12 October 2005

After the
World Star
has sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar and along the Iberian Peninsula; it crosses the Bay of Biscay and heads towards the English Channel. Suddenly, bad news comes from the galley. Chef Juan has discovered that they only have two meals worth of cabbage left! Cabbage with bacon and pork sausages is the crew’s favourite meal. The captain considers good food and shared meals to be of the utmost importance in order to keep up morale on board and create a positive team atmosphere. After all, the 22 people on board have to work together to keep this steel giant of a ship under control. The journey has been smooth so far, but it has just been announced by the captain that the ship is heading into a severe storm.

In the Bay of Biscay, the heavy autumn storm takes hold. Now the captain has to decide whether the ship should change course or seek shelter in a port. He has been instructed to stay on course during storms of up to gale force 11. In light of this, he holds steady and the steel behemoth heads straight into a fog as thick as pea soup. As the
World Star
ploughs on through the rough seas, the containers awake as if from a long slumber. A chorus of screeching metal sings out across the ship as the containers sway and roll. Unfortunately, not all of the containers are singing the same tune. Container D 42-523-46-743 doesn’t seem to like the singing of its neighbour M 53-987-12-853. It moves further and further away with each roll of the ship. The storm also increases the risk that the cold storage containers will lose their connection to the ship’s power supply, causing their contents to defrost and be ruined. Every half an hour, the crew patrol the ship to make sure the containers aren’t moving around too much. Finally, after seven long hours, the storm blows itself out and the weather becomes calm. The
World Star
is undamaged and still sailing according to schedule.

Was there ever any real danger to the ship or crew? Yes, there was. Every storm is dangerous. On average, two cargo ships sink
every week
due to poor weather conditions. Sometimes monster waves, 20 metres high, engulf them, dragging them under. The
World Star
passes the English Channel and reaches the North Sea. The captain stands outside and sniffs the air. Yes, it smells like home to him, nowhere else on the ocean is there so much iodine in the air. After crossing the North Sea, they will once again have to pass through a narrow stretch of water. They have to make their way up the River Elbe and hope that there are no traffic jams.

15 October 2005

Slowly but surely, the
World Star
makes its way up the Elbe. Ships the size of the
World Star
can only sail the 117 kilometres up the Elbe to the port of Hamburg when the North Sea tide is flowing upriver. The river is too shallow otherwise, and the
World Star
could easily run aground. Then comes a message the captain had been hoping not to hear: that their pre-booked docking place is occupied. How long will the
World Star
have to wait before it can dock? Two hours? Five hours? Delays like this are happening more and more frequently. The
World Star
’s shipping company, and many of the captain’s colleagues, blame the ports for working too slowly.

But the captain knows the truth. The whole system is to blame. Last year, when the
World Star
started sailing, it was one of the largest container ships in existence, carrying up to 8,400 containers. In reality, the
World Star
is too big for a port like Hamburg, with its narrow shipping lanes and shallow water. But it’s still expected to dock there. Now, shipping companies are building even larger ships that can carry up to 18,000 containers. The shipping companies believe that with larger ships, they’ll make even more money, as they’ll be able to reduce freight charges and beat the competition. They’ll also, of course, be able to transport more cargo on every journey.

Where will it end?
the captain wonders, as he gazes across the river to where a flock of cranes fly away.

7

From Surplus to Talisman: Something Unwanted Becomes a Lucky Charm

18 October 2005

Our off-white container is lifted out of the belly of the
World Star
by a huge crane, swung over a row of patiently waiting containers, and finally deposited on dry land. After a 12 hour wait in the third largest port in Europe, our cargo from Bangladesh is loaded onto a truck. Before leaving the port, the truck has to pass through customs. Information about the cargo had already been sent on ahead over the Internet, arriving long before the
World Star
docked at the quayside. The paperwork should list the exact contents of the container.

The customs officials check whether the data supplied is correct, but don’t always do a thorough inspection of the contents of every container, otherwise all world trade would be infinitely delayed. Instead, they use their experience to decide which containers warrant further inspection. The officials use a large, powerful x-ray machine to scan the whole of a container, so they don’t have to open each one up and crawl around inside. The x-ray produces an image on a computer screen, showing the outline of individual objects in different colours, depending on the type of material they are made from. Using this tool, the customs officials can work out exactly what is inside the container, and spot smuggled goods, illegal drugs, and sometimes even people that shouldn’t be there!

It is the job of customs officials to make sure that import restrictions are observed. For example, when the World Trade Organisation’s ‘Agreement on Textiles and Clothing’ ended in 2004, China flooded the European market with t-shirts, socks and jumpers. In response, the European Union implemented a strict limit on the quantity of these goods that could be imported from China. This needs to be monitored closely. Furthermore, there is the problem of fake goods. Initially, China was known for producing cheap products, but nowadays these are mostly counterfeit branded goods. Adidas trainers, for example, are copied down to the tiniest detail, which exasperates the official Adidas brand no end. As a result, customs authorities in Europe and America destroy all fake imports they come across.

Everyone for Themselves

The World Trade Organisation’s ‘Agreement on Textiles and Clothing’ was created by the wealthiest industrialised nations in 1974. In order to protect their domestic textile companies from too much foreign competition, fixed limits were set on the imports of clothing from poorer, less industrialised nations, such as Eastern Europe, India and China. (The poorest countries in the world, like Bangladesh, were excluded from this limitation.) The countries affected by the import limits fought against this agreement, and the industrialised nations, whose vehicles and expensive consumer goods are all produced in Asia, eventually gave in, in 1995.

The ‘Agreement on Textiles and Clothing’ expired in 2004, and China promptly flooded the European and American markets with t-shirts, trousers, trainers and other similar items. At the same time, the export of clothing from Bangladesh fell by 25 per cent.

The customs officials don’t find anything out of the ordinary in our container, so they let the truck drive through directly onto the A7 motorway, and then the A1.
Good
, the driver thinks to himself, pleased he won’t have to drive through Hamburg during the morning rush hour . . .

19 October 2005

The department store distribution warehouse is near Gütersloh, Germany. The truck carrying our fleece body warmers delivered the container to a loading bay at the warehouse last night. Since 8:00am this morning, two assistants have been unloading it. For seven whole hours, the two men move back and forth, piling the boxes of clothing onto wooden pallets. Someone from the purchasing department emerges every now and then with a long list. He opens boxes and counts products, ticks things off on his list and disappears again. The clothing is unpacked and tagged in the warehouse storeroom. The body warmers are given the extremely reasonable price of €9.95 euros (about £6.70 pounds) and loaded onto a cart.

Erna and Brigitte work in the warehouse, sorting out the clothing from Bangladesh to be sent to the different stores across Germany. Whilst working, they talk about the most unpleasant of subjects: money – or more specifically, their lack of it.

“How am I supposed to get by on this?” Brigitte asks her colleague. “I earn six euros an hour – that means that, after tax, I don’t even have €1,000 euros a month left in my pocket. Then there’s income tax, health insurance and my pension. That leaves me with about €750 euros. If you add the rent, electricity and gas bills on top of that, I’m lucky if I have €350 euros a month to live on!”

“I hear you,” Erna joins in. “I’ve worked here for fifteen years, and I still only get €1,500 euros a month. I have to feed three people with that. But if it makes you feel any better, I know people who earn even less than us. My friend Fabienne is a trained hairdresser, but she only makes about €680 euros a month at her salon, can you imagine? If customers didn’t tip her, well, I don’t even want to think about it . . .”

While they’ve been talking all the clothing has been allocated to specific stores, all except for the red fleece body warmers.

“Hey Erna, who ordered red fleeces?” Brigitte asks her co-worker.

“Red fleeces for men? That’s an interesting purchasing decision?” says Erna.

They laugh.

“Should we call it in to head office?” wonders Brigitte.

“Nah, I have a better idea,” says Erna. “We’ll send one to Darmstadt, one to Dortmund – and the rest to the Hannover-Südstadt store – sorted!”

24 October 2005

In the department store in Hannover-Südstadt, the fleeces are selling well. The products were delivered just the day before by the firm’s own truck. A saleswoman hung the fleeces on a special-offer rail right at the front of the store. The first fleece sold less than half an hour after opening. The brown body warmers, in sizes medium and large were the first to sell out, followed by the green ones. Finally, the last size medium blue fleece was sold too.

That same evening, I entered the store to buy something warm and cheap to wear in my office. I’m often asked, “What do you do for a living?” I say “I’m a journalist and a writer,” which may sound impressive at first, until you realise that being a freelance writer does
not
pay well. It therefore comes as no surprise that I was immediately drawn to the cheap fleeces. But they didn’t have any left in my size. Other bargain hunters had beaten me to it. Though when I realised that the red body warmers were also available in men’s size medium, I still didn’t buy one. I wouldn’t be seen dead in a red fleece. Even on my second visit, still desperate for something warm to wear, I couldn’t bring myself to buy a red one.

14 November 2005

After a two-week sale in the department store, there are only a few fleece body warmers left in stock. Size extra large in blue and green, and bright red fleeces in both medium and large.

The store manager assesses his stock. The winter jackets have been a real hit – there are only a few of them left. The fleeces have done well too, but the last few just aren’t selling. He tells his staff, “Drop the price of these fleeces – let’s say €8.00 euros.”