Port of Haifa, Israel
Saul Weisfeld had worked in the ports for over thirty years and had never seen anything like it. For the previous year, he had seen more ships dock than almost the previous thirty years put together. He checked the charts. Over 30 million tons of cargo in the last month, more than the whole of the previous year. He was working six and a half days a week and the port had employed an extra two hundred staff but were still struggling to cope. Only the previous day, the Port Director had told him that the navy was going to be sending over some help. The next few days were expected to be even busier!
Saul was worried. His wife had been moaning at him for weeks. The stores were empty and food was scarce. Electronics stores were closing due to lack of stock. Israel was struggling but the port was busier than ever. None of it made sense, except for one thing. Israel was preparing for war. With two sons and a daughter in the forces, Saul was very worried. His daughter would be fine, she was the brains and worked with the strategy department but his boys, his two beautiful boys, were both in the mechanized infantry, front line troops. The Port Director had told him not to be so daft but the lack of conviction and the worry etched on his face betrayed his lie. He too was worried. He too had children in the forces.
The phone buzzed on his desk. Another massive cargo ship had docked and needed to be unloaded and reloaded. The ships were stacking up. Capacity was being exceeded but he had to keep things moving. Saul called on his crane operator to get over to Quay Three and instructed the transport manager to get the trucks moving. He hauled himself out of his seat and looked out across the port. Every quay was filled, a sight he had rarely seen up until the previous few months. Not only that, a line of ships waited for their turn to dock. Each of the ships was piled high with containers, just as they all had been for the previous few months. But the shops were empty. It didn’t make sense but then for every container that came ashore, one went onboard. So maybe it did.
Saul watched a truck drive past, its belly low to the ground under the weight of the container it was carrying. Ten minutes later, the same truck came back with a different container on its back. Saul watched as it pulled away from the checker below him. Its engine strained far less than with its previous load. In fact, it was almost as though there was no weight in there at all.
Saul watched the next few trucks and began to notice a pattern. Whatever was leaving Israel was far heavier than what was coming in. His mind started to race again. None of it made sense.