The ship

When Ever Given, one of the world’s largest container ships, ran aground and blocked the Suez Canal for six days in March 2021, it dramatically brought to light the fragile dependency of global trade on maritime infrastructures. It also drew attention to ships as actors within this global system of mobility. In this article, I centre on the figure of the ship to reflect on maritime passages and blockages and the particular forms of sociality that emerge through them. Drawing on ethnography from onboard container ships, I explore how crews interact with various actors, such as authorities, pilots, boatmen and peddlers, who, at times facilitate, at times obstruct, ships’ passages. Through this ethnographic lens, I make visible the intersecting dynamics of mobility and immobility, flow and friction, and connection and isolation that permeate the Suez Canal and the contemporary maritime, and which shape the social worlds on and around ships.