Cargo-ship crews are stuck at sea
A crewing crisis
AS YOU READ this, over 60,000 cargo ships are on the high seas, laden with iPhones from China, dresses from Bangladesh, beef from Argentina, oil from the Gulf and much, much more. The industry likes to say that it is responsible for “90% of everything”. Indeed, its ships are the circulatory system of global commerce and their 1.2m merchant seamen its lifeblood. They enable nations to turn their comparative advantage into wealth. If they were to stop, much of humanity would soon begin to starve or freeze.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Invisible hands”
From the June 20th 2020 edition
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