Rose George: Inside the secret shipping industry

翻译人员: Peipei Xiang 校对人员: E Fan

A couple of years ago,

几年前，

Harvard Business School chose

哈佛商学院选出了

the best business model of that year.

当年的最佳商业模型。

It chose Somali piracy.

他们选择了索马里海盗。

Pretty much around the same time,

也就是差不多在这个时候，

I discovered that there were 544 seafarers

我发现有544名海员

being held hostage on ships,

被当作人质扣押在船上，

often anchored just off the Somali coast

就在索马里海岸不远处，

in plain sight.

目光可及之处。

And I learned these two facts, and I thought,

在我知道了这两件事以后，我想，

what's going on in shipping?

海上运输业到底在发生什么？

And I thought, would that happen in any other industry?

我又想，这样的事情可能在其它行业发生吗？

Would we see 544 airline pilots

我们可能看到544名飞行员

held captive in their jumbo jets

在他们的喷气客机里面或跑道上

on a runway for months, or a year?

被押为人质达数月甚至一年么？

Would we see 544 Greyhound bus drivers?

我们可能看到544名灰狗巴士 （美国一个巴士公司）司机被押么？

It wouldn't happen.

不会。

So I started to get intrigued.

所以我开始觉得好奇。

And I discovered another fact,

这时我还发现了另一个

which to me was more astonishing

让我震惊的事情，

almost for the fact that I hadn't known it before

之所以震惊，大概是因为 我居然在42、43岁之前完全不知道。

at the age of 42, 43.

之所以震惊，大概是因为 我居然在42、43岁之前完全不知道。

That is how fundamentally we still depend on shipping.

这就是：我们依然非常依赖海运。

Because perhaps the general public

可能普通人

thinks of shipping as an old-fashioned industry,

会以为海运是已经过时的行业，

something brought by sailboat

那是白鲸迪克和杰克·斯派洛的帆船发展而来的。

with Moby Dicks and Jack Sparrows.

那是白鲸迪克和杰克·斯派洛的帆船发展而来的。

But shipping isn't that.

事实则不然。

Shipping is as crucial to us as it has ever been.

海运对我们的重要性完全没有降低。

Shipping brings us 90 percent of world trade.

海运给我们带来了90%的全球交易物资。

Shipping has quadrupled in size since 1970.

自1970年以来，海运的能力是原来的四倍。

We are more dependent on it now than ever.

我们从没有像现在这样依赖海运。

And yet, for such an enormous industry --

然而，就是这样一个庞大的行业——

there are a 100,000 working vessels on the sea —

海上有十万艘工作船只，

it's become pretty much invisible.

它却几乎完全被人们所忽视。

Now that sounds absurd in Singapore to say that,

也许在新加坡那样说听上去有些荒谬，

because here shipping is so present

因为这里海运到处可见，

that you stuck a ship on top of a hotel.

甚至你们还把一艘船安在了一个酒店楼顶 （新加坡金海湾金沙酒店）。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But elsewhere in the world,

但是世界其它地方，

if you ask the general public what they know

如果你问普通人

about shipping and how much trade is carried by sea,

关于海运及其承载的交易量的问题，

you will get essentially a blank face.

你只会看到一张茫然的脸。

You will ask someone on the street

你可以问路人

if they've heard of Microsoft.

是否听说过微软，

I should think they'll say yes,

我想他们会说“听过”，

because they'll know that they make software

因为他们知道微软制造

that goes on computers,

那些电脑上运行的软件

and occasionally works.

并偶尔成功工作

But if you ask them if they've heard of Maersk,

但是如果你问他们是否听过马士基，

I doubt you'd get the same response,

听到的答案可能就不同了，

even though Maersk,

虽然马士基，

which is just one shipping company amongst many,

很多海运公司中的一个，

has revenues pretty much on a par with Microsoft.

创造的收入和微软几乎持平。

[$60.2 billion]

[602亿美元]

Now why is this?

为什么会是这样呢？

A few years ago,

几年前，

the first sea lord of the British admiralty --

英国海军本部的第一海军大臣——

he is called the first sea lord,

他被称为第一海军大臣，

although the chief of the army is not called a land lord —

虽然陆军的最高领袖并不叫“陆军大臣”，

he said that we, and he meant

他说，我们，他指的是

in the industrialized nations in the West,

西方世界的发达国家，

that we suffer from sea blindness.

患有海上失明症。

We are blind to the sea

我们看不到海，

as a place of industry or of work.

其实是一个行业领域、一个工作的地方。

It's just something we fly over,

我们认为那只是我们飞行经过的地方，

a patch of blue on an airline map.

飞行地图上的那一片蓝。

Nothing to see, move along.

没什么可看的，继续行进。

So I wanted to open my own eyes

所以我想睁大我的双眼，

to my own sea blindness,

克服自己的海上失明症，

so I ran away to sea.

于是我跑向了海。

A couple of years ago, I took a passage

几年前，我登上了

on the Maersk Kendal,

马士基肯德尔，

a mid-sized container ship

一艘中等大小的集装箱货运船，

carrying nearly 7,000 boxes,

上面有近7000个箱子，

and I departed from Felixstowe,

我从英国南海岸的费利克斯托港口出发，

on the south coast of England,

我从英国南海岸的费利克斯托港口出发，

and I ended up right here in Singapore

五个星期以后，到达了我现在在的地方，新加坡，

five weeks later,

五个星期以后，到达了我现在在的地方，新加坡，

considerably less jet-lagged than I am right now.

不过没有像我现在这么严重的时差。

And it was a revelation.

我受到了很大的启示。

We traveled through five seas,

我们穿越了五个海，

two oceans, nine ports,

两个大洋，九个港口，

and I learned a lot about shipping.

我学到了很多关于海运的东西。

And one of the first things that surprised me

当我登上肯德尔时， 第一件让我惊讶的事情是：

when I got on board Kendal

当我登上肯德尔时， 第一件让我惊讶的事情是：

was, where are all the people?

人都在哪里？

I have friends in the Navy who tell me

我的海军朋友告诉过我，

they sail with 1,000 sailors at a time,

通常一次会有1000个海员出行，

but on Kendal there were only 21 crew.

可是在肯德尔上，只有21个船员。

Now that's because shipping is very efficient.

这是因为海运效率非常高。

Containerization has made it very efficient.

集装箱的使用大大提高了其效率。

Ships have automation now.

现在的船只装有自动化系统。

They can operate with small crews.

他们只需要很少的船员就可以操作。

But it also means that, in the words

但是这也意味着，

of a port chaplain I once met,

用我曾经碰到的一个港口的牧师的话来说，

the average seafarer you're going to find

集装箱货运船上的一个普通的海员

on a container ship is either tired or exhausted,

通常都非常疲惫，甚至精疲力尽，

because the pace of modern shipping

因为现代海运的节奏

is quite punishing for what the shipping calls

牺牲了海运行业称之为”人性要素”的东西，

its human element,

牺牲了海运行业称之为”人性要素”的东西，

a strange phrase which they don't seem to realize

他们似乎没有认识到“人性要素”这个奇怪的字眼

sounds a little bit inhuman.

听上去其实有点不人性。

So most seafarers now working on container ships

所以大部分在集装箱货运船上工作的海员

often have less than two hours in port at a time.

通常一次在一个港口待的时间都不超过两个小时。

They don't have time to relax.

他们没有时间放松。

They're at sea for months at a time,

他们常常在海上一待就是好几个月，

and even when they're on board,

而他们在船上的时候，

they don't have access to what

他们也没有一个五岁的孩子 认为是理所当然的东西——因特网。

a five-year-old would take for granted, the Internet.

他们也没有一个五岁的孩子 认为是理所当然的东西——因特网。

And another thing that surprised me when I got on board Kendal

我登上肯德尔后，第二件让我惊讶的事情是：

was who I was sitting next to --

坐我旁边的人，

Not the queen; I can't imagine why they put me underneath her portrait --

不是女王， 我也不知道他们为什么把我放在她的画像下面，

But around that dining table in the officer's saloon,

而是在那个官员餐厅的餐桌边，

I was sitting next to a Burmese guy,

坐在我旁边的是一个缅甸人，

I was opposite a Romanian, a Moldavian, an Indian.

坐在我对面的是一个罗马尼亚人，一个摩尔多瓦人， 一个印度人。

On the next table was a Chinese guy,

隔壁的桌子是一个中国人，

and in the crew room, it was entirely Filipinos.

在船员的房间，则全是菲律宾人。

So that was a normal working ship.

这就是一艘普通的工作船只。

Now how is that possible?

怎么会是这样？

Because the biggest dramatic change

因为在过去的60年里， 海运业的最大的变化，

in shipping over the last 60 years,

因为在过去的60年里， 海运业的最大的变化，

when most of the general public stopped noticing it,

当普通大众不再关注海运业的时候，

was something called an open registry,

就是所谓的“开放登记”，

or a flag of convenience.

或“方便旗”。

Ships can now fly the flag of any nation

现在船只可以悬挂任何国家的国旗，

that provides a flag registry.

只要他们给予登记。

You can get a flag from the landlocked nation

你可以从一个内陆国家获得一面国旗，

of Bolivia, or Mongolia,

比如玻利维亚、蒙古，

or North Korea, though that's not very popular.

或者北朝鲜，虽然这不是很流行。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So we have these very multinational,

所以我们有这些来自多个国家的、

global, mobile crews on ships.

全球的、移动的船员。

And that was a surprise to me.

这让我非常惊讶。

And when we got to pirate waters,

当我们到达了海盗水域，

down the Bab-el-Mandeb strait and into the Indian Ocean,

穿过曼德海峡，进入印度洋的时候，

the ship changed.

船只发生了变化。

And that was also shocking, because suddenly,

这让人很震惊，因为突然

I realized, as the captain said to me,

我意识到，船长也这么跟我说，

that I had been crazy to choose to go

我选择坐集装箱货运船穿过海盗水域 简直太疯狂了。

through pirate waters on a container ship.

我选择坐集装箱货运船穿过海盗水域 简直太疯狂了。

We were no longer allowed on deck.

我们被禁止到甲板上去。

There were double pirate watches.

他们密切监视海盗的出现。

And at that time, there were those 544 seafarers being held hostage,

而那个时候，正有544名海员被押为人质，

and some of them were held hostage for years

有的被押了数年，

because of the nature of shipping and the flag of convenience.

因为海运本身以及“方便旗”的关系。

Not all of them, but some of them were,

不是所有的人，但是其中一些，

because for the minority of unscrupulous ship owners,

因为碰上了无良的肆无忌惮的船主，

it can be easy to hide behind

很容易被隐藏起来，

the anonymity offered by some flags of convenience.

借以“方便旗”的匿名性。

What else does our sea blindness mask?

我们的“海上失明症”还隐藏了什么？

Well, if you go out to sea on a ship

如果你跟着船只出海，

or on a cruise ship, and look up to the funnel,

或者坐游艇，抬头看烟囱，

you'll see very black smoke.

你会看到黑烟。

And that's because shipping

那是因为海运的利润非常小， 而他们需要便宜的燃料，

has very tight margins, and they want cheap fuel,

那是因为海运的利润非常小， 而他们需要便宜的燃料，

so they use something called bunker fuel,

所以他们用一种船用燃料，

which was described to me by someone in the tanker industry

一位油轮行业的人告诉我，

as the dregs of the refinery,

那是炼油厂的糟粕，

or just one step up from asphalt.

跟沥青几乎相差无几了。

And shipping is the greenest method of transport.

而海运已经是最环保的运输方式了。

In terms of carbon emissions per ton per mile,

就每英里每吨的碳排放而言，

it emits about a thousandth of aviation

它是飞机的一千分之一，

and about a tenth of trucking.

货车的十分之一。

But it's not benign, because there's so much of it.

但这仍然不是好事，因为还是有很多排放。

So shipping emissions are about three to four percent,

海运的碳排放大概是3%到4%，

almost the same as aviation's.

跟飞机差不多。

And if you put shipping emissions

如果你把海运的碳排放

on a list of the countries' carbon emissions,

放在各个国家的碳排放的列表上，

it would come in about sixth,

它会大概排在第六位，

somewhere near Germany.

靠近德国。

It was calculated in 2009 that the 15 largest ships

据估计，2009年15艘最大的船只

pollute in terms of particles and soot

排放的颗粒、烟尘

and noxious gases

和有毒气体，

as much as all the cars in the world.

和全世界的机动车加起来差不多。

And the good news is that

但是好消息是

people are now talking about sustainable shipping.

人们正在讨论可持续的海运。

There are interesting initiatives going on.

一些有意思的初步行动正在展开。

But why has it taken so long?

那为什么要那么久呢？

When are we going to start talking and thinking

什么时候我们才会开始讨论和思考

about shipping miles as well as air miles?

海运里程数，就像飞行里程数一样？

I also traveled to Cape Cod to look

我还去了科德角看

at the plight of the North Atlantic right whale,

北大西洋露脊鲸的困境，

because this to me was one of the most surprising things

因为这是我的海上经历带给我的 最震撼的让我思考的事情。

about my time at sea,

因为这是我的海上经历带给我的 最震撼的让我思考的事情。

and what it made me think about.

因为这是我的海上经历带给我的 最震撼的让我思考的事情。

We know about man's impact on the ocean

我们知道人类对海洋的影响，

in terms of fishing and overfishing,

就捕鱼和过度捕捞而言，

but we don't really know much about

但是我们并不知道

what's happening underneath the water.

在水下到底发生了什么。

And in fact, shipping has a role to play here,

而事实是，海运在其中起了一定的角色，

because shipping noise has contributed

因为海运带来的噪音

to damaging the acoustic habitats of ocean creatures.

破坏了很多海洋生物的声音栖息地。

Light doesn't penetrate beneath the surface of the water,

光线无法穿到水下面，

so ocean creatures like whales and dolphins

所以诸如鲸鱼和海豚之类的海洋生物，

and even 800 species of fish

甚至800个鱼的物种

communicate by sound.

都靠声音交流。

And a North Atlantic right whale

而北大西洋露脊鲸的声音

can transmit across hundreds of miles.

可以传播上百英里。

A humpback can transmit a sound

座头鲸的声音可以传播整个海洋。

across a whole ocean.

座头鲸的声音可以传播整个海洋。

But a supertanker can also be heard

但是一艘超级油轮的声音也可以

coming across a whole ocean,

穿越整个海洋，

and because the noise that propellers make underwater

而因为螺旋桨发出的噪音

is sometimes at the same frequency that whales use,

有的时候跟鲸鱼发出的声音的频率是一样的，

then it can damage their acoustic habitat,

可能会破坏鲸鱼的声音栖息地，

and they need this for breeding,

而鲸鱼需要这些声音来繁衍、

for finding feeding grounds,

觅食

for finding mates.

和寻找配偶。

And the acoustic habitat of the North Atlantic right whale

北大西洋露脊鲸的声音栖息地

has been reduced by up to 90 percent.

已经减少了近90%。

But there are no laws governing acoustic pollution yet.

然而还没有法律来约束声音污染。

And when I arrived in Singapore,

当我到达新加坡的时候，

and I apologize for this, but I didn't want to get off my ship.

我必须对此表示道歉，我不想下船。

I'd really loved being on board Kendal.

我爱极了在肯德尔上的日子。

I'd been well treated by the crew,

船员对我非常好，

I'd had a garrulous and entertaining captain,

我有一个爱说、好玩的船长，

and I would happily have signed up for another five weeks,

我很愿意再在船上待上五个星期，

something that the captain also said

虽然船长觉得我这个想法很疯狂。

I was crazy to think about.

虽然船长觉得我这个想法很疯狂。

But I wasn't there for nine months at a time

但是我没有一次性在船上待上9个月，

like the Filipino seafarers,

像菲律宾的海员那样，

who, when I asked them to describe their job to me,

当我让他们跟我描述他们的工作的时候，

called it "dollar for homesickness."

他们称之为：乡思美元。

They had good salaries,

他们的工资待遇不错，

but theirs is still an isolating and difficult life

但是他们过得仍然是一种孤立的、艰难的生活，

in a dangerous and often difficult element.

在一个危险的、困难不断的环境里面。

But when I get to this part, I'm in two minds,

说到这里，我有些矛盾，

because I want to salute those seafarers

我想对这些海员致敬，

who bring us 90 percent of everything

因为他们给我们带来了90%的东西

and get very little thanks or recognition for it.

却得到很少的感激和认可。

I want to salute the 100,000 ships

我想对那10万艘海上的船只致敬，

that are at sea

我想对那10万艘海上的船只致敬，

that are doing that work, coming in and out

它们每天不停工作，进进出出，

every day, bringing us what we need.

满足我们的所需。

But I also want to see shipping,

但是我也希望看到海运

and us, the general public, who know so little about it,

和我们这些对海运知之甚少的大众，

to have a bit more scrutiny,

有更多的关注，

to be a bit more transparent,

有更多的透明度，

to have 90 percent transparency.

有90%的透明度。

Because I think we could all benefit

因为我觉得我们都可以从非常简单的事情中获益，

from doing something very simple,

因为我觉得我们都可以从非常简单的事情中获益，

which is learning to see the sea.

就是学会看海。

Thank you.

谢谢！

(Applause)

（掌声）