![]() Although the term clearly holds relevance in numerous time periods and national contexts, it is most frequently at the intersection of imperialism and early forms of industrial capitalism. Thus, the typical supply chain involves the removal or extraction of a natural resource from its environment, subjecting it to an industrial or related process of transformation, and then bringing the object to sale. The term suggests a set of links bringing together objects of value, reassembling them to make something new or more saleable, and equally important, readily available to the market. Within the vast body of work on supply chains, a few generalizations help focus its scope. Still, the realities of crowded ports, extreme labor shortages, and the inability to move contents rapidly in and out of ports continues to undermine the industry’s positive economic situation.įrom Colonial to Post-Colonial Transport Intervention (1945- ): ![]() With the COVID pandemic leading to dramatic increases in online orders, and further associated with consumers’ desire to maintain social distancing through e-commerce, the shipping industry finds itself in a position to make record profits. Other ships arrive bearing cargo but must wait to be unloaded, due to lengthy backlogs at port facilities. In a development closer to many Americans, both physically and metaphorically, empty ships sit outside Long Beach and at other West Coast ports, waiting to receive cargo. The literature concerning logistics and shipping has experienced a dramatic revival since 2019, with the COVID-19 crisis reminding us, as the 2008 financial crisis demonstrated a decade ago, of the materiality underlying the infrastructure for much of the global economy. The “cargo ships” referenced here, most likely large container ships, represent another example of recent technological development contingent upon these earlier structures, as trade has long moved through the Straits of Malacca via other means of conveyance. The story of technological innovation through shipping containers, the focus of this piece, relies upon these earlier networks, even as the history is often written from a European or North American standpoint. Scholars such as Sunil Amrith have made the case for the latter as a site of networked trade and travel. The recent use of technologies and shipping by imperial and nation-state actors reflects the attempt to capture the activity of these earlier trade networks, like those of the Malay world and the Indian Ocean. ![]() British colonial officials anticipated precisely this style of trade between South and Southeast Asia when they selected the site in the early nineteenth century, and this fact was further reinforced with the growth of East and Southeast Asian economies after 1945. Although these types of ships can also be located at several key nodes around the world, Singapore holds a special place of significance for its positioning midway between India and China. Typically, these large vessels travel a circuit between Mumbai and Shanghai. First, an unusually large number of container ships had to wait in close proximity to Singapore, seeking contents to acquire before continuing on with their journey. Titled “ Cargo Ships Treading Water Off Singapore, Waiting for Work,” the piece referred to a set of related developments stemming from the regional effects of economic slowdown. In early 2009, the New York Times featured an article in the midst of the global financial crisis, pointing to a recent downturn in the shipping industry.
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