CARGO SHIPS, IN THE BOUNKERS OF GLOBALIZATION | France 5 | Le Monde en face

They are the invisible giants of world trade. The embodiment of a globalized industry, container ships move from one continent to another, delivering, far from the public eye, 90% of the goods we consume: from car tires to cell phones.

Fundamental cogs in an economic model that swears by growth, these ships are the links in a supply chain that is indispensable to our production and consumption patterns. If they were a country, the 5,500 container ships currently at sea would rank fourth among the world’s economies!

For this documentary, Nicolas Vescovacci and Alfred de Montesquiou were granted exceptional permission to board the Merete Maerks: 400 meters long, 60 meters wide. Owned by the Danish Maerks Group, the world’s second-largest shipowner.

Cruising speed: 25 knots (46 km/h). At this speed, this giant of the seas would need 45 days and numerous ports of call to perpetuate the wonder of globalization.

From Busan in South Korea to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, we accompanied the Merete Maerks on her journey to tell the story of maritime transport from a sailor’s point of view.

All aboard were twenty-three men and women. Unknown little hands of world trade, they live for weeks and sometimes months behind closed doors, precisely documented in logbooks made by the crew members themselves. Their mission: to secure fifteen to twenty thousand multicolored boxes piled up on decks up to 50 meters high.

This film rigorously exposes the excesses and environmental consequences of a prosperous, poorly regulated industry that relies on low-cost labor and low taxes.

From east to west, Merete Maerks’ journey takes us into the bunkers of globalization. This groundbreaking film reveals the inner workings of world trade, made so fragile by geopolitical crises.