Our office is 20 minutes from one of the world's busiest ports. Some mornings the long way to work runs past the Yeongdo bridge, with bulk carriers at anchor and repair docks full of vessels waiting for hull inspection.
A 50,000 DWT bulker in dry dock puts things in perspective. It carries grain across the Pacific and steel to Southeast Asia, and right now someone is replacing a pump seal so it can do it again.
Yeongdo alone has 16 shipyards in one district. You hear grinding, welding and cranes, and it smells of paint and seawater. It is where ships come back to life.
Every vessel here is a reminder that this industry runs on small parts: gaskets, bearings, valve seats, O-rings. Without them, that bulker is not leaving the dock.