Overview
Trieste, harbor city at the age of Italian’s frontier, bridge to Balkans , back door to the European shipping and trade games and door to the Middle East. Here you can feel the pulse of European economy and its needs. How intertwined its existence is with the one of the so called secondary markets including West Asia, the Middle East effecting every thing shipped through the Suez canal.
Cranes outline the stages for the perpetual drama of moving humans and machinery.
Here in the harbor a new communication protocol is born. One made of gesture, beeping machinery in transit and light signals cueing the movement of traffic. Languages from Middle East and West Asia merge with broken English, German and Trieste dialect spoken by the harbor masters, sailor and machinery operator.
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Ships from allover the world dock in this harbor every hour of the day and of the night.
Unloading and loading.
Operations are performed as fast and efficiently to allow the ship to take sail to its next destination while an army of truck driver mostly from the Middle East and West Asia, restlessly moves about the harbor preparing for their next trip.
Truck driver traveling in and out of the harbor are addressed by passport number or customs papers code such as 34BD227893, TEH536432; or by ticket number 34 NY101 or cargo ID UHE37. To economize on food they shop together, cook their own dinner on a camp stove and set their dinner table on old cardboard boxes.
The theater of life is now open, the samovars are heated to prepare the tea, friends have gathered, provisions have been inspected and the tables are set. The fragrance of the dinner envelops the parking lot and permeates the streets of the harbor. Someone calls the family on his cell phone someone takes on a few glasses. Allah is far away THE536432, 34BD227893, 34 NY101 e UHE37 and many more like them hidden in the shadows of this parking lot, began to have a name and raise before us to tell their stories of mans.
Some of those track drivers spend up to 9 month driving across Europe, sleeping and living on their tracks. They do it to send funds back home. They do that because the European economy needs their goods to trasit fast and cheap. They do it because the European truck drives will not do it and will cost to much.
“I sure hope my sun and my daughter will go to university . I made the mistake of dropping out. I was a professional swimmer back then. Have some tea with us is getting to dark and cold out there.”
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Asghr Nori - Tehran.
63 years old - 43 years of working as a truck driver
" If you sty out there any longer you will freeze, please come inside the truck there is some hot tea” "tea should always be drunk with sugar , I would not be a gentleman if I left you out there in the cold.”
“ We are here waiting to board the truck on the ferry, we take off tonight, this time I do not have to carry anything , I go back home with a friend, I left the cargo here and will return with him so keep each other company on the way back up to Tehran "
I traveled throughout Asia and most of Arabia and Syria , speak Arabic and Persian and Russian .... here I n Europe I of course speak German.
The boundaries of the world are much bigger than it may seem form looking a chart, there is so much to learn .
In reality, travel and work in Europe is very easy, that is why everyone wants to work here . Driving cargo across the East and Asia is not easy, especially now , that's why the all business has shifted towards Europe.
This truck usually carries apple juice, all of us carry apple juice from Iran to Europe.
I do traveled a lot but in reality I only know the little I can see form the window of my truck. When I can I write all I see and feel in a small notebook.
I have 7 children and 7 grandchildren . One of them is now in the military, two are doctors, and the girl is a teacher.
They have done very well for them self and I’m very proud of them.
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Load Engineer - Pear VII - Trieste
I design the loading and unloading system for all the ships. Today we are experimenting a new technical approach. This ship resumes sailing after she spent some time in the ship yard for refitting.
My work is very important, it gives greater stability to the ship insuring a safe journey for both its load and its crew.
Each container has declared cargo type a weight. I check each container and then design an architecture load system according to the ship .
I try to balance the weights across the ship so that it won’t negatively effect the structure nor the stability of the ship. This taking in to account both on the hull structure and on the actual maneuverability of the ship.
An unbalanced load might knock out the maneuverability of the rudder in difficult weather conditions, create break points in the hull or roll the ship too violently and create a disaster .
Therefore I have to take care of so many details and always work in safely also because often the declared weight loads on the containers are not stated correctly . they usually weigh much more than what has been declared. Unfortunately can not reweigh all containers before ' boarding that is why I always calculation a margin of overload risk to compensate for the fealty weigh.
Our activities is closely influenced by the situation in the Middle East, as soon as there is a crisis in the Middle East our activities decrease. Most of the ships that dock in this pier sail through the Suez Canal. When something is wrong out there we notice it immediately.
When the Bora blows it make the containers fly off and not only the empty one. It is awesome , every time I remain fascinated by this show.
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Ismet Imay - 28 years- 4 year working as a truck driver.
" I'm a paparazzi truck driver this is my great hotels of metal"
His truck is equipped television , Turkish flags, samovar, camera and satellite dish ." Here we even have the Turkish TV"
The whole group meets without shoes inside the truck cabin.
Ismet is a merry and full of initiatives.
"Always snap photos while traveling, I like to take pictures.
I have pictures of all the places I found most interesting during my travels, I photographer even while driving so at least I have something to do while I work and then I can show the photos to my family when I get home
I have a two months old daughter and I saw her only seven days before I had to live again driving this truck, this is not a right.
I'd like to instantly a camera like your right up here at the center of the glass so that I could record all the things I see during my travels, unique things that no one will never see. We spend our evenings among friends friends, we are almost like a family now. See Shatiahin he is our grandmother, he has lived among these trucks for 30 years, he is 52 years old. He always knows everything and cooks better than everyone here. We always dose the cooking and that is why he is our grandmother.
Shatiahim doesn't, replays, instead he smirk, emitting a sound resembling a lough.
Ismaet instead jumps around, inside and outside the truck, fixing the satellite dish. The difference between the two might be is only in time .
" Now I have to rest in my bunk, in the morning I have to get to Florence drive cross all the mountain roads.”
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How nice, you take a picture of me.. Can you imagine that after 30 years of working at the harbor I will now retire. This way I will have a memory of the harbor . I started working here as a child and now I'm leaving . I do not know what I will do, maybe I’ll retire in the mountains .
I have seen all sort of things happening in this harbor, once entered you becomes part of the play and you get used to; the majority of people living in Trieste have no idea of what happens here. From the outside it looks like a dead place, but in here there another city and another life.
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In summer time anything goes in this port.
Before this dock did not have water, they installed only recently. What happened that summer with the water was like being at Disneyland . Everyone took showers with plastic water hose and then they all start playing with the water and had battle across the parking lot. After a while we join in playing we had more confidence.
The whole boarding area had become a children of playground.
Can you imagine the heat on this pear over the summer? This all place is wild in concrete and asphalt.
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Customs clearance
A policeman yesterday had to stop a Turkish driver whom wanted to commit suicide. He had been parked here for too many days, the ship was delayed by heavy weather and bad sea conditions. The pore man started beating his head against the post screaming Allah was the only god and that he wanted to speak with the Pope .
I approached him to calm him down but he pulled out a knife and started to cut on his arm.
Maybe he was drunk, maybe he pulled the ropes to long and was in need of a holiday and to be with his family.
I asked one of of the truck driver in the lot to take him away and cam him down I did not want to call the police. All his colleagues and friends asked to not harm him as he had some serious family problems and was very sad.
He kept calling Allah and asked for the pope. I told him that we had called him , that it was useless to hurt him self because it would take him time to get get here from Rome.
Later a while he got distracted and I jumped on him to disarm him. He was screaming and crying. Luckily we had already called an ambulance which took him to the hospital. I hope that the poor man should never have to return to the parking lot. He should be send home with the plane now that he has finally lost his head.
There is a bar in the harbor for truckers called Pan America, however not many of them go there. They meet there just before the bus comes to pick them up for the airport in Ljubljana .
Initially the place was build for them but actually not really.
Most of them gather among them self under the truck , preparing tea , drinking and cooking together.
Their samovar are always hot and ready to use, and sometimes they invite us to join them.
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