Longshoreman Who Earn on Average $140K + $80K Bennie Package Demand More

It’s been just over 45 years since the Apollo Moon landings, and some would have it that we are failing to build big anymore; that we've since become too fascinated with the small, too impressed by our tablet computers, games consoles, and smartphones that we don't invest in grand, world-changing engineering projects.

Stand on the bridge of a container ship docked in a mega-port in Korea, however, and it's clear that's just not true. The global supply chain that brings us those tablets and phones, and pretty much everything else from our clothes and food to our toys and souvenirs, is nothing short of a moon shot itself – a vast, unprecedented engineering solution to a truly astronomical logistics problem. The fact that it's hidden from most people's sight, and that it has become so utterly reliable and efficient to the point of transparency, doesn't make it any less of an achievement of human technical endeavour.

To find out more about this huge, invisible network, I accompanied a group of architects and designers called the Unknown Fields Division for a rare voyage on a container ship between Korea and China. The aim of the trip was to follow the supply chain back to some of the remotest parts of China and the source of our consumer goods – and what we saw as we travelled through mega-ports and across oceans looked closer to science fiction than reality.

Tense contract talks roll on this week between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents maritime shippers and port operators. Each side blames the other for a labor dispute that has resulted in a slowdown on West Coast ports, but regardless of who's at fault, the faceoff is taking a major toll on the U.S. economy.

The dispute now costs the economy about $2 billion a day, estimates Kevin O’Marah, the head of research for SCM World, a group of senior supply chain executives from companies that include Barnes & Noble, Nike, Microsoft and Shell. O’Marah bases that figure on a 2002 work stoppage, which cost about $1 billion a day.

The North American Meat Institute estimates the port problem has cost the meat and poultry industry more than $40 million per week in lost sales or unanticipated export charges. BNSF Railway Co., which handles up to 15 percent of U.S. intercity freight, has cut in half the number of trains that run to the West Coast ports.

Tyson Foods told Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, last week that its beef and pork is sitting in freezers near the ports rather than going to Asian markets. The meat giant said it has used up all the available space it can find.

“They have said if it doesn’t move soon we’re going to have to move it in a domestic market,” a move Thune told reporters Wednesday would likely lead to lower prices for livestock producers. “If we don’t get it resolved it’s going to have a profound impact on our ag economy in this country, and on jobs. We’re really going to feel that here if something doesn’t break real soon.”