Global Shipping

Source: Reuters

The Suez Canal is on everyone's mind. The Ever Given, a megaship longer than the Empire State Building, was stuck, causing global losses of $10 billion per day. But what are the costs of the canal—and the global shipping industry—when nobody's paying attention?

• Invasive Species: Canals connect bodies of water that shouldn't be connected, allowing species to cross over into new territory. This wreaks havoc on ecosystems. In the case of the Suez Canal, over 1,000 new species have been introduced to the Mediterranean, crowding out native species and even contributing to coastal erosion.

• Pollution: 90 percent of world trade is done by cargo ships, which are responsible for 3% of greenhouse gas emissions. If global shipping were a country, it would be the sixth polluter in the world. Ships also dump waste into the sea.

• Noise Pollution: One of the more surprising effects of the shipping industry, cargo ships emit deafening noises into the ocean, disorienting marine life that relies on echolocation to navigate. Whales have been found dangerously close to shore, their navigation thrown off by nearby cargo ship traffic.

• Impact on Labor: The global shipping industry has been a disaster in countless ways for workers around the world. Groundbreaking documentary The Forgotten Space details the ways that global shipping has not simply changed labor, but redefined it. Additionally, safety violations for workers on cargo ships are the norm.

• A Regulatory Nightmare: Many factors make it difficult to enforce environmental regulations. Ships spend much of their time unsupervised in international waters. Shipping companies register their ships to whichever country offers the lowest taxes and lightest regulations. And governments, under pressure to keep up with a hypercapitalist global trade market, offer shocking exemptions to cargo ships.