A watery rebirth

The ash, as most of us in Northern Europe are now considerably aware of, is extremely dangerous to aviation. And by dangerous I mean fall-out-of-the-sky dangerous, not just a -little-bit-of-turbulence-dangerous. The argument on how much ash is too much to permit air travel will wage on long after the ban is lifted, but in the meantime this airspace shutdown has brought to bear the continued importance of shipping.

In today’s era of convenience travel, holiday makers are conditioned into thinking that air travel is the only way to move around the world. The more air travel is taken, the more this mindset is fixed.

However, the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull has brought the vital links of the sea back into the spotlight.

In the past week, British holidaymakers and business travellers alike who could only make it as far as mainland Europe were instructed to make their way to French ports to make their way back to our island nation. The only mode of transport left open to them? Shipping – both naval and commercial as the British Navy and ferry companies such as P&O and Seafrance shuttled them back to our southern shores.

This brief episode – for all the disruption it has really only been six days of banned air travel – has surely underlined that the world does not stop spinning if air travel is removed. Just 60 years ago, planes were very much the preserve of the upper classes because it was extremely expensive to fly. As a result, people had a better, broader understanding of how products moved around the world.

Shipping was more apparent – less like the invisible industry it has become today. But if Eyjafjallajokull has taught the world at large anything, it is that air travel cannot be relied on forever.

But fear not, there will always be a mode of travel for people and products and that mode is by sea. Long live shipping and all who serve her.