Category Archives: transport

Sailing on dhows and working in the auto industry

Posted on 15 April 2014 by Laleh Khalili

  A facebook friend sent me a URL to a blogpost which introduced Sons of Sinbad by Alan Villiers…  What struck me was the contention that the book was “probably the only work of western travel literature that focuses on the seafarers of … Continue reading →

Posted in finance and insurance, labour, Middle East, political economy, readings, seafaring, shipping conditions, ships, the sea, transport | Leave a comment

Robot ships

Posted on 4 April 2014 by Laleh Khalili

This Wired piece (which reads a bit like a PR statement from Rolls Royce) tells us that autonomous systems [i.e. personless] are going to make their way into large vessels in the near future, and VTT and Rolls-Royce are already working … Continue reading →

Posted in capital accumulation, ships, transport | Leave a comment

London comes closer to the sea

Posted on 26 March 2014 by Laleh Khalili

Dubai Ports World runs London Gateway which will be competing against Felixstowe and Southampton to be the top container port in the UK.  Like many other DPW concerns, there seems to be an iron (or ham-) fisted determination to not let workers unionise – although … Continue reading →

Posted in capital accumulation, infrastructure, labour, logistics, political economy, ports, shipping conditions, ships, transport | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Interconnections

Posted on 26 March 2014 by Laleh Khalili

Dead Water by Simon Ings is the most fabulously dystopian novel about shipping, containers, ships, airships, tsunami, shipping, and dastardly deed that can happen when vast numbers of ships are circumnavigating the globes with vast numbers of containers on board.  One … Continue reading →

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On the high seas

Posted on 26 March 2014 by Laleh Khalili

I am really looking forward to my trip aboard a container ship… The ship above is a liquid natural gas carrier, so it will have a different feel, but the feeling of being on the seas… It seems to be … Continue reading →

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Value in motion

Posted on 22 March 2014 by Laleh Khalili

“The more developed the capital, therefore, the more extensive the market over which it circulates, which forms the spatial orbit of its circulation, the more does it strive simultaneously for an even greater extension of the market and for greater … Continue reading →

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The prose and poetry of toiling in/on the seas

Posted on 20 March 2014 by Laleh Khalili

I am ashamed to admit that I was a latecomer to the magic of Allan Sekula. Far too much of a latecomer.  I discovered his stunning work on shipping and transport, last year; he died in August last year. His amazing … Continue reading →

Posted in Allan Sekula, capital accumulation, labour, ports, readings, ships, the arts, the sea, the sublime, transport | Tagged , | Leave a comment