Pointing to a 40% reduction in ships anchored off Los Angeles and Long Beach, port officials say new rules are helping with the supply chain backlog and local air quality. But it all depends what you're counting.
DAY AFTER DAY, the 24-person crew duly go about their tasks. Routine maintenance is performed. Fire drills are carried out. Minimum safe manning standards are kept. Everything is ready and raring to go. But this ship hasn’t moved for months – and most of its inhabitants haven’t set foot on land since they set sail more than 100 days ago. All they can do is wait.
Outside, the Egyptian sun slowly simmers cargo headed for the UK and Germany, as well as trains destined for central and eastern Europe – wiring, lawnmowers and gazebos which will one day be bound for assembly lines, supermarket shelves and homes across the continent. Alongside surgical gowns, wheelchair parts and sun loungers, there’s also plenty of food: tea leaves, lemons and tofu all rot away in the heat. None of it can be offloaded.
No other ship veered, though they were affected by the same wind, and were steaming through the same canal water. The ship ahead, the Cosco Galaxy, was as large as the Ever Given, but nothing happened to her. The other 19 ships in the convoy proceeded with no incident, except for nearly ramming into each other: it takes a mile or so to fully stop.
It is possible that the sandstorm caused poor visibility – but ships operate at night using radar: they don’t need to see clearly. The huge wall of containers could have operated as a sail when the wind picked up, blowing it off course. Could the pilot have overcompensated for the wind?