Inserts:

00:03 Report / Dan Hirschfeld
00:35 Adam Kopczyk / Captain of the "Al Zubara"
01:32 Hanja Richter / Hapag-Lloyd
02:15 Maximilian Rothkopf / COO, Hapag-Lloyd
03:15 Mohamed Arrachedi / ITF (International Transport Workers' Federation)

Script:

It takes four tugboats to pull the "Al Zubara" into the port of Hamburg. The container ship is 400 meters long, almost 60 meters wide, and it carries 200,000 tons of cargo.

The ship has just come in from Malaysia.   

Captain Adam Kopczyk and his crew have been en route for six weeks. Much longer than it used to take.. as he was no longer allowed to take the direct route through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal - due to the risk of attacks by Houthi rebels from Yemen.

00:34
+++SOT Adam Kopczyk, Captain of the "Al Zubara"+++
“Two, three years ago we were going through Suez canal, which was 10 to 14 days shorter. /// But now going around Cape of Good Hope makes things a little bit more challenging – because the weather around the Cape, around south of Africa, involves very strong winds.”

In 2023, his shipping company, Hapag-Lloyd, was one of the first globally to stop sending ships through the Red Sea. The decision came after Houthi rebels in the region had been attacking Western cargo vessels - a reaction to Israel's war in the Gaza Strip.

And that conflict is not the only one worrying the captain and the shipping company - and threatening international supply chains.

Due to the war in Iran, the Strait of Hormuz is now blocked, too. That creates yet another bottleneck for global trade - for oil as well as manufactured goods.

+++SOT Hanja Richter, Hapag-Lloyd+++
“We have to constantly monitor, check, and readjust our routings. Our network. Our capacity. Our ships... to adapt to these situations. /// So, to keep the network running, you need more ships, more containers. You consume more fuel.”

In Hapag-Lloyd’s operations center, staff monitor the shipping company’s fleet of more than 300 vessels 24/7 - covering regions around the world.

Maximilian Rothkopf is in charge of the company’s operational business. He views the sheer volume of conflicts and hazards as a new and distinct phenomenon.

+++SOT Maximilian Rothkopf, COO, Hapag-Lloyd+++
“The last five years, we saw a lot of changes to the macro-economic environment. /// We now have a lot of geopolitical hotspots, starting with the terrible war in Ukraine. But also the conflict between Pakistan and India. We have recently seen the challenges in the Strait of Hormuz. We have the Red Sea, which we talked about. /// And therefore, the safety of the ship and the crew comes first.”   

However, not all shipping companies handle these challenges with such responsibility - or prioritize the well-being of their crews over efficiency and profits.

In the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Iran, hundreds of ships have been stranded for weeks. On some of these vessels, supplies of drinking water and food are running low. Nevertheless, some captains and shipping companies continue to sail into the area, says Mohamed Arrachedi of the International Transport Workers' Federation. Since the outbreak of the Iran war, he has received 2,200 calls for help.

+++SOT Mohamed Arrachedi, ITF (International Transport Workers' Federation)+++
“Water and food are basic needs, basic human needs. Nobody can survive without food and water. Sending vessels there exposes both the vessels themselves and the seafarers on board to danger. Those 2,200 requests do not represent just 2,200 individual seafarers; the actual number is much, much higher. This is because each seafarer who speaks to us—who contacts us—does so on behalf of the entire crew.”

For shipping operators, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is extremely costly. A few weeks ago, Hapag-Lloyd said they were losing 50 million euros per week due to four ships being stranded there.