The Hidden Costs of Containerization How the unsustainable growth of the container ship industry led to the supply chain crisis
BY AMIR KHAFAGY
As the world celebrated the new year with family and friends, 23-year-old Filipino seafarer Vince Valeriano marked a dispiriting milestone. For over 15 months, the soft-spoken Valeriano and 22 of his fellow Filipino crewmates have been aboard Cyprus Sea Lines’ massive 54,000-ton MBSC Maria, without ever leaving the ship. This is their second consecutive holiday season without stepping ashore. Although Valeriano was well aware of the long stretches of time that he would be away from his family when he began seafaring two years ago, he could never have anticipated that he would not step on land for this long. Valeriano says that he and his crewmates have been going stir-crazy. “We cannot go shopping. We’re very homesick here because the internet is limited and we can’t contact our family.” To make matters worse, for two months Valeriano and the rest of the crew of the Maria have been in a seaman’s form of purgatory, indefinitely anchored off the Port of Long Beach, California, without any word when they will be able to unload their cargo and go back home. Originally, the crew of the Maria had an 11-month contract, but due to the traffic jam, their contract was involuntarily extended by four months. Valeriano makes a mere $530 a month aboard the ship. During the delays, the shipping companies have added very little in the way of hazard pay. 16 PROSPECT.ORG FEB 2022
The waiting can be excruciating. “It’s not so normal to be anchored this long,” he said via Messenger, his face visibly consumed by fatigue. “This is the first time I experienced this because with container ships you just go to the port but what can we do? They tell us the port is congested.” Valeriano and the crew of the Maria are not alone. According to data from the Marine Exchange of Southern California, as of the first week of January, there were 105 container ships backed up outside the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, by far the busiest por ts in the United States. There was more cargo in the water offshore than the ports processed in all of November. Across the world, nearly 400 container vessels have piled up outside U.S. and Chinese ports, carrying 2.4 million containers. On board with the cargo are people like Valeriano. At the start of the pandemic, 400,000 seafarers across the world were stranded at sea. As many store shelves lie bare and the cost of consumer goods continues to spike, seafarers are the
