Assemble and Dispersal

"It feels like we're being given a rare look into a usually hidden space, a peek at the intricate but city-scaled machinery of global capitalism."

--The Invisible Network that Keeps the World Running-- Tim Maughan

Tim Maughan provided a great overview of the experience within part of the shipping containers infrastructural systems, which is vast and sprawling in cities and ports along East Asia. Hong Kong, Busan, Yantian, Ningbo, Shanghai... some are juxtaposed to dense commercial areas while others are hidden and tucked into corners or under highways.

Visceral and mundane, Maughan exposed the life on the infrastructure, the pragmatical formation on the perimeter of the land and shore, but it also has morphed to become so much functional less subliminal. Or the functions becomes yet another sublime, which may be manifest in the near future.

"... for centuries a space of mystery and myth, of expanse and desolation – have been rationalised and shrunk. Once an enigmatic, awe-inspiring place, the sea has become a zone of efficiency, little more than another channel for the automated supply chain network."

In other words, the perceptions on ocean, at least for some of the worker there, became a means of networking and meandering. Not so much about fascinations and inspirations. It is strictly for the purpose of importing and exporting goods. And, it is highly controlled and structured to ensure good service quality and on-time delivery. "The reefers themselves are fascinating pieces of technology, basic containers outfitted to be advanced climate controlled, computer monitored micro-environments. Checking the reefers are running is the crew’s only tangible, direct responsibility for the cargo beyond ensuring it arrives on time."

Although most of the products inside are unknown to the crew members, these shipping containers has reefers that track, report, and keep an eye on the products inside the containers.

Glimpsing the shipping containers infrastructural systems, one began to question the possibility to down scale the well established system fuelled with consumers from all over the world. What are the options otherwise? If to obtain a specific item that is specific to the lifestyle and living condition of an urban dweller, say, a modern minimalistic glass cup made in Japan, is so tangible and easy via Amazon, what is the trigger that will change this new 21st century living standard? What is the limits of the ocean, the river channels and the land?

Citations

Tim Maughan, “The Invisible Network that Keeps the World Running” BBC Future (February 9, 2015);