Inside Shipping The Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes On Your Back Gas In Your Car And Food On Your Plate
287 pages
Published Nov. 8, 2013 by Metropolitan Books.
En las páginas webs de seguimiento de buques, las aguas son de color negro con puntos. Cada punto es un buque, cada buque está cargado de contenedores y cada contenedor está cargado de mercancías. En las economías postindustriales ya no producimos, pero compramos, por lo que debemos enviar. Sin envío no habría ropa, alimentos, papel, o combustible. Sin envío, el mundo que conocemos no funcionaría. Rose George se embarca desde Rotterdam a Singapur a bordo de buques gigantescos, patrulla el Océano Índico con un grupo de trabajo contra la piratería, se une a los capellanes marineros e investiga el daño causado a especies marinas en peligro de extinción. El transporte de mercancías está ligado a un sistema bizantino de estructuras de propiedad ocultas, regulaciones complicadas, una mano de obra en gran parte procedente de países en desarrollo y unas condiciones de trabajo inhumanas. Lejos del escrutinio público, es un sistema …
En las páginas webs de seguimiento de buques, las aguas son de color negro con puntos. Cada punto es un buque, cada buque está cargado de contenedores y cada contenedor está cargado de mercancías. En las economías postindustriales ya no producimos, pero compramos, por lo que debemos enviar. Sin envío no habría ropa, alimentos, papel, o combustible. Sin envío, el mundo que conocemos no funcionaría. Rose George se embarca desde Rotterdam a Singapur a bordo de buques gigantescos, patrulla el Océano Índico con un grupo de trabajo contra la piratería, se une a los capellanes marineros e investiga el daño causado a especies marinas en peligro de extinción. El transporte de mercancías está ligado a un sistema bizantino de estructuras de propiedad ocultas, regulaciones complicadas, una mano de obra en gran parte procedente de países en desarrollo y unas condiciones de trabajo inhumanas. Lejos del escrutinio público, es un sistema sombreado de "banderas de conveniencia". George revela el funcionamiento y los peligros de un mundo invisible que es la clave para nuestra economía, nuestro medio ambiente y nuestra propia civilización.
Some weird British colonial vibes, but I liked it overall. Seamless weaving of narrative and facts
Fing gut an, war dann aber leider doch wieder so ein Buch, bei dem offenbar eine bestimmte Anzahl von Seiten vollgestopft werden musste. Viele Kapitel Füllmaterial. Die Hauptgeschichte über die Fahrt auf dem Containerschiff ist interessant, aber die zum Teil mehrere Kapitel langen Abschweifungen (Piraten, Wale, Geschichten ganz anderer Schiffe) habe ich gegen Ende nur noch überflogen.
Fun educational read. She did a great job making what would otherwise be dry interesting. Just wish there'd been some framing around the off-the-container-ship chapters. The main narrative thread of the book is pulled through her journey on the MV Maersk Kendal, and she did a really great job of tackling the different aspects she wanted to cover by way of that journey. Which made the "oh, suddenly we're ashore in a port in England" switch a bit jarring. Other'n that, though, a good read.
I've been intrigued by shipping ever since I heard a statistic in Moby Duck that said that 2 ships are lost weekly. I never knew whether I should believe that or not. That seemed like a lot of ships to lose without it being something everyone knows. This book didn't tell me if that was true but it did say that over 2000 people a year die at sea. This book follows a container ship journey from England to Singapore with side trips to investigate issues like piracy. You learn about shipwrecks and human smuggling. My favorite fact was that a container of broccoli will set off the radiation detectors at the shipyards. (I knew broccoli was bad for you.)I was surprised by how horrible life as a sailor is. I knew it wasn't a cushy job but the companies seem to go out of their way to make …
I've been intrigued by shipping ever since I heard a statistic in Moby Duck that said that 2 ships are lost weekly. I never knew whether I should believe that or not. That seemed like a lot of ships to lose without it being something everyone knows. This book didn't tell me if that was true but it did say that over 2000 people a year die at sea. This book follows a container ship journey from England to Singapore with side trips to investigate issues like piracy. You learn about shipwrecks and human smuggling. My favorite fact was that a container of broccoli will set off the radiation detectors at the shipyards. (I knew broccoli was bad for you.)I was surprised by how horrible life as a sailor is. I knew it wasn't a cushy job but the companies seem to go out of their way to make it worse. The amount allotted per day for meals keeps dropping. There is no internet even on ships built in the last few years. Fast turnaround at docks means that shore leave is pretty much a thing of the past. Some sailors she talks to haven't been off the ship in 6 months. If your ship gets captured by pirates, you are pretty much on your own for a while. There is a set time that negotiations generally take. If your company tries to speed it up so it doesn't take months, the pirates get suspicious and keep you longer. I was interested to hear how the dockside churches are stepping up for sailors. Because they can't leave the ships, chaplins come onto the boats to help them get things they need. They also try to help fix some of the horrible conditions by finding the right authorities for sailors to report complaints to. Read this one to find out everything about an industry that is so pervasive but no one knows about.I loved the narrator of this audiobook. She doesn't sound like a typical nonfiction book narrator. She's very posh and British. I looked up what else she has narrated because I was going to listen to them all. It turns out that she is mostly a narrator of Regency Romances. She sounds like she should be reading those. I want her to read more nonfiction because that's mainly what I listen to on audio. Pearl Hewitt for narrator of every book!This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story
Infrastructure. We never give it much thought, and that’s ok: there’s too much to be aware of. Shipping, though... shipping is big. In terms of lives affected, social benefits and costs, ecological impact. We really need to be aware of this invisible world, and Rose George’s book is a thoughtful and enjoyable way to learn about it. The frequent context switches can be jarring, hence four stars, but nonetheless strongly recommended.
I've decided to add the merchant marine to the list of industries where I'd rather not work. Shipping stuff by sea has become incredibly cheap, and the quality of life on board container ships has suffered as their owners have looked to cut costs as much as possible.
This is combined with the unethical but totally legal practice of choosing your own country of origin (with most companies choosing the ones with the least cost and/or oversight), which leaves the crew at the mercy of uncaring legal systems when they're stiffed by their employers.
Turnaround times while in port have shortened to less than a day, meaning that shore leave is short when the crew gets any at all. Maersk (and other companies) forbids families (due to piracy), drinking (for obvious reasons), and plenty of other things that would make a seafaring life less monotonous.
I knew most of this …
I've decided to add the merchant marine to the list of industries where I'd rather not work. Shipping stuff by sea has become incredibly cheap, and the quality of life on board container ships has suffered as their owners have looked to cut costs as much as possible.
This is combined with the unethical but totally legal practice of choosing your own country of origin (with most companies choosing the ones with the least cost and/or oversight), which leaves the crew at the mercy of uncaring legal systems when they're stiffed by their employers.
Turnaround times while in port have shortened to less than a day, meaning that shore leave is short when the crew gets any at all. Maersk (and other companies) forbids families (due to piracy), drinking (for obvious reasons), and plenty of other things that would make a seafaring life less monotonous.
I knew most of this before reading the book, but I was happy to see it fleshed out.
If I enjoyed the book, why'd I give it three stars? The content felt padded out. The journey itself could have been a long article. The piracy chapter was way too long, as were some of the other non-narrative portions of the book. It was worth my $2, but it would have benefited from substantial trimming.
