WEBVTT - A Ship Stuck in the Suez

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to on the Job. This season, we're focusing on

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<v Speaker 1>how people and businesses are getting back to work. Let's

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<v Speaker 1>call it a great transformation, a change in the way

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<v Speaker 1>workers are thinking. Employers need people to work more than ever,

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<v Speaker 1>putting laborers in a sort of position of power. We'll

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<v Speaker 1>be hearing from people navigating this new normal for themselves

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<v Speaker 1>as they find their life's work. Great transformations come after

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<v Speaker 1>moments of great calamity. The reason people are taking big

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<v Speaker 1>risks today and finding new jobs that fulfill them is

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<v Speaker 1>because COVID threw all of our values into question and

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<v Speaker 1>made us reevaluate well. In twenty twenty one, a similar

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<v Speaker 1>event happened that through the world once again into uncertainty,

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<v Speaker 1>but may have been a lesson that came and went.

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<v Speaker 1>So today we look back at the story of a ship,

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<v Speaker 1>a canal, and some gusts of wind that brought a

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<v Speaker 1>global industry to a complete standstill. People like stuff. We

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<v Speaker 1>love stuff. If you're listening to this right now, in

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<v Speaker 1>your living room or your office, look around. There's a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of stuff. Chairs, computers, paper clips, drywall, your phone,

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<v Speaker 1>a coffeemaker. If you were asked, hey, where'd that coffeemaker?

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<v Speaker 1>Come from. You might say Walmart, But where does it

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<v Speaker 1>really come from? The truth is it comes from all

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<v Speaker 1>over the world, different parts coming from different countries, being

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<v Speaker 1>assembled in factories across the world, and crossing thousands and

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of miles of ocean to get to that shelf

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<v Speaker 1>at the Walmart fifteen minutes away from your door. And

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<v Speaker 1>if your coffeemaker breaks, you know you can go get

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<v Speaker 1>another one. We are completely separated from the process of

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<v Speaker 1>how we get the stuff we want, and most of

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<v Speaker 1>us are probably totally okay with that as long as

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<v Speaker 1>it's convenient, who really cares. But what happens when stuff

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<v Speaker 1>hits the fan. A giant container ship is blocking the

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<v Speaker 1>Siouez Canal, One are the world's busiest waterways. The route

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<v Speaker 1>is vital for the movement of everything from oil to consumer.

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<v Speaker 1>Almost all the stuff around you in that room right

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<v Speaker 1>now comes to you on ships. Many of those ships

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<v Speaker 1>passed through the Suez Canal in Egypt, and on March

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<v Speaker 1>twenty third, twenty twenty one, the Siouez Canal was blocked.

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<v Speaker 1>This ship is so huge, it's as long as the

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<v Speaker 1>Empire state building is tool and it is blocking the

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<v Speaker 1>entire wich of the Sioux Canal since it run aground

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<v Speaker 1>on Tuesday. The ship was called the ever Given And

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<v Speaker 1>some of you probably remember this because it kind of

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<v Speaker 1>took the world by storm when it happened during the

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<v Speaker 1>six full days that it was stuck. Why did this

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<v Speaker 1>situation even nacer in the first place. The entire globe

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<v Speaker 1>was affected when this one ship with twenty five crew

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<v Speaker 1>members got stuck for six days. So today, instead of

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<v Speaker 1>interviewing someone within the economic landscape, we're going to look

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<v Speaker 1>at the economic landscape as a whole to talk about

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<v Speaker 1>what the ever Given being stuck in the Siouez Canal

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<v Speaker 1>says about us. I think most of us aren't aware

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<v Speaker 1>of just how much global trade hangs by a thread. First,

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<v Speaker 1>a little history. The Siouez Canal was built and opened

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<v Speaker 1>in eighteen sixty nine as global trade continued to intensify.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a long, narrow corridor that runs through Egypt, connecting

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<v Speaker 1>the Red Sea with the Mediterranean. Before that ship's coming

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<v Speaker 1>from East Asia to Europe or to North America, they

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<v Speaker 1>had to go around the entirety of Africa. So by

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<v Speaker 1>punching this canal through Egypt to the Mediterranean, the journey

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<v Speaker 1>for ships was shortened by about six thousand or ten

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<v Speaker 1>full days at sea. This was obviously a game changer

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<v Speaker 1>for world trade. The Suez Canal connected the world in

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<v Speaker 1>a time of science leading up to the Industrial Revolution,

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<v Speaker 1>and was a historic milestone in human engineering and collaboration.

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<v Speaker 1>In eighteen eighty eight, a massive treaty called the Convention

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<v Speaker 1>of Constantinople was signed by Egypt, most European countries, the Russians,

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<v Speaker 1>the Ottomans, and in it there was a clause stating

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<v Speaker 1>that the Suez Canal was open for any country to

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<v Speaker 1>use quote in time of war as in time of peace,

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<v Speaker 1>by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction

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<v Speaker 1>of flag. The thing is, the Suez Canal became so

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<v Speaker 1>important and so vital that, maybe unsurprisingly, it became a

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<v Speaker 1>point of conflict. Power struggles over the canal led to

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<v Speaker 1>a major crisis between Egypt and Israel in nineteen fifty six,

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<v Speaker 1>and then it was completely shut down during the Six

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<v Speaker 1>Day War in nineteen sixty seven, closing for eight full years.

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<v Speaker 1>In twenty fourteen, the Egyptian government underwent a nine billion

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<v Speaker 1>dollar project to expand the canal in certain parts in

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<v Speaker 1>order to double the number of ships going through from

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<v Speaker 1>forty nine ships a day to ninety seven. So by

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<v Speaker 1>twenty sixteen this construction was finished, global trade was booming,

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<v Speaker 1>and that brings us up to modern day, the age

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<v Speaker 1>of clicking a button on Amazon and magically getting whatever

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<v Speaker 1>it is you ordered in two days. Again, that stuff

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<v Speaker 1>it comes on boats. Everything from oil, gas, your coffee maker, food,

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<v Speaker 1>it all comes on boats. And twelve percent of stuff

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<v Speaker 1>on boats, twelve percent globally comes through the Suez Canal.

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<v Speaker 1>On average, fifty one massive boats called ultra large container

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<v Speaker 1>vessels or uclvs go through the canal daily, roughly equating

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<v Speaker 1>to nine billion dollars every single day. Until March twenty third,

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<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty one, a ship called the ever Given was

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<v Speaker 1>about to enter the Suez Canal. The ever Given is

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<v Speaker 1>one of the biggest objects people have put on water.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a quarter mile long. Ships have gotten this big

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<v Speaker 1>over the years because consumers consume more and more. But

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<v Speaker 1>at a certain point, ships can't get longer or bigger

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<v Speaker 1>because they wouldn't be able to navigate things like the

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<v Speaker 1>Suez Canal. So shipping companies started stacking their shipping containers

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<v Speaker 1>higher and higher on board. On March twenty third, twenty

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<v Speaker 1>twenty one, the ever Given was headed toward the Netherlands,

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<v Speaker 1>loaded up with nearly twenty thousand containers, stood fifty meters

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<v Speaker 1>above the water, and was carrying about one billion dollars

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<v Speaker 1>worth of goods. It was a windy day, severe storm winds.

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<v Speaker 1>They're often our severe storm winds in the Suez, and

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<v Speaker 1>they were bad enough that day that some captains decided

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<v Speaker 1>not to go through the canal. But Captain is Non Cantabell,

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<v Speaker 1>a very experienced seaman, decided to keep going. The reason

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<v Speaker 1>he take the risk is there are huge financial pressures

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<v Speaker 1>to get your cargo where it needs to be on time.

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<v Speaker 1>The shipping industry is a just in time business, so

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<v Speaker 1>Captain Cantabell knew there was an enormous amount of money

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<v Speaker 1>riding on his delivery. From a bird's eye view, the

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<v Speaker 1>canal looks like a straight shot through, pretty easy. But

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<v Speaker 1>seafarer is going through it say it's incredibly stressful. It's narrow,

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<v Speaker 1>it's shallow. Any mistakes could have huge consequences, and there's

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<v Speaker 1>a line of ships right behind you also with hundreds

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<v Speaker 1>of millions of dollars on the line, and they're all

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<v Speaker 1>in a hurry, so As the ever Given enters the

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<v Speaker 1>south end of the canal, the wind starts to push

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<v Speaker 1>the ship. Because ships like this stack their containers so

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<v Speaker 1>high to make the trip worth it, there's a ton

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<v Speaker 1>of surface area, and the entire ship starts to act

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<v Speaker 1>like a sail. The ship starts swerving back and forth

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<v Speaker 1>in the narrow canal. The captain and the navigators on

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<v Speaker 1>board are arguing with each other about what to do.

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<v Speaker 1>They decide to increase their speed, which the way that

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<v Speaker 1>these ships work would normally give it control, but because

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<v Speaker 1>of how narrow the channel is, physics takes over and

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<v Speaker 1>the boat starts to get pulled towards the sides. The

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<v Speaker 1>faster it goes, orders are getting thrown around to go

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<v Speaker 1>hard left, then hard right, back and forth, essentially fishtailing.

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<v Speaker 1>And then one of these turns throws the ship out

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<v Speaker 1>of control where a hard turn can't recover it, and

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<v Speaker 1>the bow of the ever Given crashes into the sandy bank.

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<v Speaker 1>The ship is stuck in the front. Not only that,

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<v Speaker 1>but the back of the boat swings across the canal

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<v Speaker 1>and grounds itself on the other side. So now you

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<v Speaker 1>have a boat that's a quarter mile long diagonally lodged

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<v Speaker 1>across the Suez Canal. The four hundred meter long cargoes ship,

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<v Speaker 1>the ever given is stuck in the Suez Canal, and

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<v Speaker 1>it is fouling up global trade, and it is also apparallel.

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<v Speaker 1>The ship was stuck for six whole days. And you

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<v Speaker 1>probably remember this because it was a year into the pandemic,

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<v Speaker 1>and the story went totally viral, with every armchair expert

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<v Speaker 1>and news anchor across the world all trying to figure

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<v Speaker 1>out how to get this thing unstuck. It kind of

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<v Speaker 1>confounded everyone, like how did this happen? And how was

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<v Speaker 1>it so hard to fix? They eventually tried to dig

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<v Speaker 1>it out, scooping out the bank at the front of

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<v Speaker 1>the boat with huge excavators that just look comically small

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<v Speaker 1>next to this mammoth ship. A picture of one of

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<v Speaker 1>these little excavators became a meme synonymous with trying to

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<v Speaker 1>conquer a hopeless task. Every day the ship was stuck.

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<v Speaker 1>All this stuff, these ships waiting to go through and

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<v Speaker 1>deliver virtually anything you see around you, those all stopped.

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<v Speaker 1>The delay is costing essentially four hundred million dollars an hour.

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<v Speaker 1>I'll spare you the minutia of how They eventually got out,

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<v Speaker 1>but on March twenty ninth, six days later, due to

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<v Speaker 1>some creative engineering and a lucky supermoon that pulled the

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<v Speaker 1>tides up, Yes, a supermoon, the ship eventually became buoyant

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<v Speaker 1>enough and got unstuck. When it did, the innumerable ships

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<v Speaker 1>and tugboats that were on the canal all sounded their horns, celebrating.

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<v Speaker 1>Over those six days, one ship with twenty five crew

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<v Speaker 1>members got hit with some wind and got stuck in

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<v Speaker 1>a bank and disrupted more than fifty four billion dollars

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<v Speaker 1>worth of goods, affecting the entire global economy from months

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<v Speaker 1>on end. The fact that this ship being stalled in

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<v Speaker 1>the Suez is costing the globe billions of billions of

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<v Speaker 1>dollars by the hour is a reminder that this distances

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<v Speaker 1>we have in place are not particularly resilient. We'll be

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<v Speaker 1>right back after the break. A strong work ethic takes

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<v Speaker 1>pride in a job well done, sweats over the details.

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<v Speaker 1>This is the kind of person you need. Express employment

0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:31.120
<v Speaker 1>professionals can help. Finding the best people requires more than

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<v Speaker 1>sorting through applications. You need to conduct a thorough search.

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<v Speaker 1>Express understands what it takes to hire the right person.

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<v Speaker 1>It takes real people, real interviews, discovering the talents you need.

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<v Speaker 1>We find good people matching their skills with the right jobs.

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<v Speaker 1>At Express, we find people for jobs and companies of

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<v Speaker 1>all sizes and industries, from the production floor to the

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<v Speaker 1>front office. Sometimes finding the best new employee really is

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<v Speaker 1>about who you know Express Nose Jobs. Get to know Express,

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<v Speaker 1>go to expresspros dot com to find a location near you. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>So the reason I wanted to tell the story of

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<v Speaker 1>the ever Given for this season is because we are

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<v Speaker 1>in this great transformation. When COVID hit in twenty twenty,

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<v Speaker 1>it threw everything we knew into complete chaos across the globe.

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<v Speaker 1>It affected everyone this flew, and as we exist in

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<v Speaker 1>this new reality a couple of years into it, we

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<v Speaker 1>can see that COVID really showed us how unsustainable and

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<v Speaker 1>fragile this world is that we built. It's caused a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of people we've talked to on this show to

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<v Speaker 1>reevaluate what it is they want to do if they

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<v Speaker 1>want to spend the precious time that they have working

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<v Speaker 1>a particular job because that's just the path that they chose.

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<v Speaker 1>It's made people want to take bigger risks because the

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<v Speaker 1>quote safe standard options they've been following turned out to

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<v Speaker 1>be not as safe and secure as they were made

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<v Speaker 1>to believe. The ever Given getting stuck in the Suez

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<v Speaker 1>Canal shine a light on the exact same thing that

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<v Speaker 1>we've created, a rapidly moving world that can't keep up

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<v Speaker 1>with itself and has real consequences because of it. The

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<v Speaker 1>world's consumers keep consuming more stuff, and we want it cheaper,

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<v Speaker 1>and we don't really want to know or care how

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<v Speaker 1>it happens. What that means, though, is that more parts

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<v Speaker 1>four things have to come from more places to keep

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<v Speaker 1>the cost of things down, which means more ships. In

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen seventy five, the average number of ships passing through

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<v Speaker 1>the Suez Canal was twenty seven. In twenty nineteen, that

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<v Speaker 1>average has almost doubled to fifty two ships a day.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a lot more stuff in a short period of time,

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<v Speaker 1>and we consumers still expect smooth delivery no matter how

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<v Speaker 1>much strain we put on the shipping industry. Just get

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<v Speaker 1>us our stuff. When you look at a picture of

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<v Speaker 1>the ever Given, you can visually see how crazy this looks.

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<v Speaker 1>One giant ship with a billion dollars worth of shipping

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<v Speaker 1>containers stacked fifty meters above the water, operating in risky environments.

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<v Speaker 1>It's kind of preposterous and really really risky. All companies

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<v Speaker 1>account for risk and loss of goods, but now with

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<v Speaker 1>so much product on one vessel, the loss when things

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<v Speaker 1>go awry is huge, and today more and more things

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<v Speaker 1>are going awry than ever before. For one, as we

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<v Speaker 1>saw with the ever given, the more stuff on these ships,

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<v Speaker 1>the harder they are to navigate, and again they turn

0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.320
<v Speaker 1>the ship into a giant sail. Another byproduct of this

0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:56.560
<v Speaker 1>overpacking is that it turns these boats into political targets.

0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:59.440
<v Speaker 1>If one country has a beef with another and wants

0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:03.520
<v Speaker 1>to see seriously disrupt their supply chain, targeting even one

0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:07.240
<v Speaker 1>of these massive ships would have a huge impact. Iran

0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.760
<v Speaker 1>and Israel have been engaged in and on and off

0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:13.280
<v Speaker 1>conflict where they harm each other's boats. This is happening,

0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:16.480
<v Speaker 1>and the laborers that work on and depend on these

0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:19.520
<v Speaker 1>boats are the ones that suffer greatly. The kind of

0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:23.560
<v Speaker 1>demand an extraordinary value placed on these boats and getting

0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:27.040
<v Speaker 1>them to their destination on time causes extreme pressure on

0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:29.320
<v Speaker 1>the captains that are in charge of them and can

0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:36.520
<v Speaker 1>really cloud their judgment. Take Captain cant of All, for instance,

0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.160
<v Speaker 1>Captain of the Ever Given, he knew that there were

0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:41.960
<v Speaker 1>dangerous winds going into the canal that day. It was

0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:44.800
<v Speaker 1>so bad that other captains turned back. But there is

0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.120
<v Speaker 1>so much commercial pressure for crews to keep on schedule,

0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.680
<v Speaker 1>and such huge demand from people at home buying things

0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.960
<v Speaker 1>during the pandemic, that he had to weigh that against

0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:58.920
<v Speaker 1>the safety risks. In a perfect world, the captain's priorities

0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:01.960
<v Speaker 1>would be the safety of his ship than crew, But

0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:04.720
<v Speaker 1>the rising number of accidents on the sea showed that

0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:08.960
<v Speaker 1>ship captains are taking much bigger risks under financial pressure.

0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:15.320
<v Speaker 1>We are in the biggest spike in maritime accidents in

0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.640
<v Speaker 1>the last seven years, and three quarters of those accidents

0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:23.040
<v Speaker 1>are attributed to human error. Burnt out, overworked crews making

0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:29.000
<v Speaker 1>small mistakes with huge consequences. Captains who look at heavy,

0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:31.960
<v Speaker 1>dangerous weather coming and take it on instead of waiting

0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.200
<v Speaker 1>it out because they can't be late. The general attitude

0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.800
<v Speaker 1>is don't go around the storm, go through. On top

0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.320
<v Speaker 1>of that, this weather is becoming more unpredictable due to

0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:46.360
<v Speaker 1>climate change. Rough weather events are actually causing massive amounts

0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:49.840
<v Speaker 1>of containers to fall off of these ships. In twenty twenty,

0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:53.600
<v Speaker 1>over three thousand containers were recorded to be dropped into

0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:55.880
<v Speaker 1>the sea, with that number is staying steady over the

0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:59.160
<v Speaker 1>last couple of years. In twenty twenty one, almost a

0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:03.680
<v Speaker 1>hundred billion dollars in cargo was just lost overboard due

0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:11.280
<v Speaker 1>to accidents like this one hundred billion, And most importantly,

0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:15.280
<v Speaker 1>these accidents are extremely dangerous and sometimes fatal for the

0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:18.639
<v Speaker 1>crews on these ships. Being on one of these ships,

0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:22.280
<v Speaker 1>when huge stacks of forty foot containers are all toppling

0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:26.359
<v Speaker 1>over during a raging storm, it's stuff in nightmares, so

0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.800
<v Speaker 1>much so that PTSD is pretty common among shipping crews

0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:34.639
<v Speaker 1>because of things like this. The mishapps that happen in

0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:39.440
<v Speaker 1>the shipping industry have a real human cost, physically and economically,

0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:43.400
<v Speaker 1>and those mishapps are byproducts of a system we've demanded

0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.840
<v Speaker 1>and one that is constantly under an extreme amount of strain.

0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:52.240
<v Speaker 1>When we buy stuff, we don't really think about how

0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.560
<v Speaker 1>that stuff gets to us. It's truly just a marvel

0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:59.520
<v Speaker 1>of efficiency and speed happens like magic, and while we

0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:02.240
<v Speaker 1>don't have to think about it, what that physically looks

0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:05.240
<v Speaker 1>like is the twenty thousand containers stacked on the ever

0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:08.119
<v Speaker 1>given about to go through the Suez Canal, but the

0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:10.760
<v Speaker 1>captain who wants to get that stuff delivered on time

0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:15.520
<v Speaker 1>despite the risks. The entire world was brought to a

0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:18.399
<v Speaker 1>halt in twenty twenty when a virus broke loose, and

0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:20.960
<v Speaker 1>we lived in a society that wasn't built to stop

0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.760
<v Speaker 1>for a second and fix it. A year later, a

0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.399
<v Speaker 1>global shipping industry was brought to a halt by some

0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:29.920
<v Speaker 1>unfortunate gusts of wind and an economy that couldn't afford

0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:36.280
<v Speaker 1>to wait it out. Most of the people we talked

0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:39.120
<v Speaker 1>to in this show are reacting to situations just like

0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:42.440
<v Speaker 1>this in their personal lives. They're going about their day

0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:46.520
<v Speaker 1>as they always did, until something happens, and suddenly they

0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.919
<v Speaker 1>realize that the way they're living isn't really making them happy,

0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:53.440
<v Speaker 1>or it just doesn't make sense at all, and they

0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:57.080
<v Speaker 1>decided kind of oud of desperation to change course into

0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:01.359
<v Speaker 1>their own great transformation. Maybe the lesson here is that

0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:05.119
<v Speaker 1>the ever given in our shipping industry have not changed course.

0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:10.359
<v Speaker 1>Ships keep having accidents, containers are still going overboard, and

0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:13.240
<v Speaker 1>the Suez Canal is as precarious as it was two

0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:17.360
<v Speaker 1>years ago, and we still just want our stuff. It's

0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:20.080
<v Speaker 1>all proof that if a major calamity shows you the

0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:23.120
<v Speaker 1>error of your ways, you have the capability to get

0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:26.280
<v Speaker 1>back on the water and make those same errors again.

0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:30.920
<v Speaker 1>But you don't have to. If you're in a job

0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:33.520
<v Speaker 1>or a life that doesn't make sense, a house of

0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:36.480
<v Speaker 1>cards that could fall to a gust of wind, you

0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:38.760
<v Speaker 1>do have the choice to steer away and make a

0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:42.560
<v Speaker 1>new course. If you don't, you could really get stuck

0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:56.840
<v Speaker 1>for on the job. I'm otus Gray, Thanks for listening.

0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.399
<v Speaker 1>Special thanks for the sources on this show, Elizabeth brows

0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:03.560
<v Speaker 1>article and Foreign Policy and and Co's article in The

0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:07.639
<v Speaker 1>Economic Times, and Bloomberg's reporting on the Ever Given music

0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:08.800
<v Speaker 1>by Blue Dot Sessions