Dockworker

A dockworker (also called a docker, longshoreman, lumper, stevedore, wharfman or wharfie) is a waterfront manual laborer who loads and unloads ships.

As a result of the intermodal shipping container revolution, the required number of dockworkers has declined by over 90% since the 1960s.

Etymology

The word stevedore () originated in Portugal or Spain, and entered the English language through its use by sailors. It started as a phonetic spelling of estivador (Portuguese) or estibador (Spanish), meaning a man who loads ships and stows cargo, which was the original meaning of stevedore (though there is a secondary meaning of "a man who stuffs" in Spanish); compare Latin stīpāre meaning to stuff, as in to fill with stuffing. In Ancient and Modern Greek, the verb στοιβάζω (stivazo) means pile up. In Great Britain and Ireland, people who load and unload ships are usually called dockers; in Australia, they are called stevedores, dockworkers or wharfies; and, in the United States and Canada, the term longshoreman, derived from man-along-the-shore (or alongshore + man), is used. Before the extensive use of container ships and shore-based handling machinery in the United States, longshoremen referred exclusively to the dockworkers, while stevedores, part of a separate trade union, worked on the ships operating their cranes and moving cargo.

History

Dockworkers have existed since ancient times. The role of dockworkers has evolved significantly over the centuries as maritime trade has grown and modernized:

Ancient times: The Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans all relied on dockworkers to load and unload cargo from ships at port cities such as Carthage, Athens, and Ostia.

Medieval period: In the Middle Ages, dockworkers played a crucial role in the trade networks of Europe.