CONTAINER shipping is brought to life in a new book commissioned

by Germany's ER Schiffahrt that tells the story of the "epoch-making metal box",

writes Janet Porter.

 

Sabine Vielmo's photographs and reportage in "10,000 Leagues Over the Sea" look at both

the people and hardware that make up an industry very few ever get to see, or even think about.

 

From picnickers on a candlelit sandy beach at dusk gazing at the huge gantry cranes across

the water, to a giant containership caught in a heat haze as it proceeds up the Suez Canal,

and a panic-stricken crew rowing as fast as possible away from a blazing ship, the book

encapsulates every facet of this vast business that oils the global economy.

Ms Vielmo, who studied photography in Zurich and who now lives in Hamburg,

was invited by Erck Rickmers' ER Schiffahrt to follow containers both at sea and on land.

 

The book is full of anecdotes and recollections of those she met on her travels, from humble deckhands to captains.
But really, it is the stunning photography that does the talking and captures the very essence

of all those "whose work and lives are determined by these boxes".

 

Quelle: Lloyd's List, 31.12.03