Irish Examiner view: We take oceans’ gifts for granted

Despite huge advances in communications our economies are still dependent on cargo ships sailing the high seas

Even if it is apocryphal, that headline attribute to The Times of London, 'Channel fogbound; Continent isolated', is such a good fit in so many debates it will hardly die away. 

It was, in a more global way, revitalised when MV Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week. 

The container ship — hardly an adequate description for such a monster — has been refloated and traffic will resume immediately. 

More than 300 ships are waiting to use the canal. About 15% of world shipping sails through it each year earning $5.6bn for Egypt in 2020. About 50 ships use it each day.

The debacle reminded us, in the clearest way, that despite huge advances in communications our economies are still as dependent on cargo ships sailing the high seas as they were when the East India Company reshaped our world, especially the Indian subcontinent. 

The importance of those links is underlined by soaring ocean container rates on Asia-Europe, the old EIC routes, were around $1,200 at this time last year. 

Just after Christmas, they hit $8,000 but have fallen a little in recent weeks. 

For lots of reasons, economic or environmental, diverting to air freight is not a realistic option.

At a moment when our Navy staffing falls below 1,000 and when a challenging new documentary, Seaspiracy, shows how imperiled our seas are by our greed the Ever Given story is a warning that we may be taking our oceans, their bounty and the links they sustain too much for granted.