LOST AT SEA
On stuck sideways in the Suez Canal for nearly a week, the megafreighter Ever Given was unmoored. With that, the world’s attention, rapt for days by global shipping, turned elsewhere.
That’s a shame because the Ever Given and its crew didn’t get to travel on to their destination. Instead, they were seized by Egyptian authorities. Their treatment wasn’t unusual. All over the world, seafarers endure the same tragic fate: being stuck on their ships, sometimes for years, because shipowners and governments can’t solve their disagreements—and, in some cases, eventually being turned over to authorities after committing no crimes.
They’re the hidden victims of our increasing dependence on shipping.
What caused the to get stuck in the Suez Canal? That was the question that kept the container ship and its crew in a lake adjacent to the Suez Canal for more than three months. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) argued that the captain had made mistakes on his ill-fated journey, while the ’s owners claimed the SCA shouldn’t have allowed’s insurers. By July 7, the parties had reached an undisclosed settlement, and the could finally leave the lake with its crew. At least the same crew members hadn’t been stuck there the whole time: Seafarers’ unions had managed to get permission from the SCA for periodic crew changes. On July 29, the , carrying its cargo of some 18,000 containers, reached Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
