Vessels In the days of Columbus and Vespucci, ships were used for explorative journeys. These days, they have largely come to be symbols of the global trade of consumer goods. In 2013, 53,000 cargo ships transported 9.5 billion tons of freight on the world’s oceans, completely unseen by most people. 90% of the goods we buy have crossed an ocean on a ship at least once. Few people realize how diverse these cargo ships – the motors of the modern globalized world – can be. In a very objective fashion, David Hiepler and Fritz Brunier photograph merchant vessels from every nation,