VIFF snapshot review | Freightened: The Real Price of Shipping

Freightened: The Real Price of Shipping

Director: Denis Delestrac

Sept. 30, 6:45 p.m., Oct. 2, 11 a.m., International Village

Oct. 12, 6:30 p.m., Cinematheque

We see the freighters anchored in English Bay and think what a serene backdrop to the skyline of Vancouver, Canada’s busiest port. But how much do we really know about these hulking giants and their impacts on people, the economy, and the environment?

Denis Delestrac.

International shipping may be the most convenient way to ship goods around the globe, but it comes with serious costs — most of them hidden from those who use the goods and products in all those containers.

Delestrac points out that mostly European shipping magnates fly flags of convenience from places such as Panama, Liberia, the Marshall Islands — even Mongolia, which has no coastline — for reasons related to taxes, labour laws, and regulations. Crews tend to be from dirt-poor countries such as the Philippines.

The furrowed eyebrows don’t stop there. Add water and air pollution; underwater engine noise harming marine life, especially cetaceans; the introduction of invasive plants and animals; and the easy movement of illegal drugs and weapons.

Does Delestrac go too far in stating his case? Perhaps. He doesn’t highlight improvements in oil-carrier safety since the Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989, as well as recent international controls on sulphur in fuel, which directly benefit Vancouver.

Still, he makes the case that the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization needs to move much faster to regulate global shipping, and consider a wide range of options, including quieter engines and cleaner fuels such as natural gas.

Profit and improved sustainability, he concludes, can coexist on the high seas.

lpynn@postmedia.com