Sjouwers

Looking at a modern port, such as the port of Rotterdam, today makes it hard to imagine that until the sixties of the last century physical labour was essential. Nowadays on modern container or bulk terminals you hardly see any other human being, but in the old days the port was crowded with people that were required to load and unload the cargo. Around 1960 over 14.000 porters - also known as dock workers - were working in the Rotterdam port. Only after the introduction of the container their numbers deminished dramatically. At the end of the 19th century business in the Rotterdam port proverbial exploded. Construction of the Nieuwe Waterweg, the introduction of bigger and bigger steamships, construction of new harbours on the south bank of the Maas river - it all meant that the need for labour grew bigger and bigger. Soon the rumour spread throughout the rest of Holland and a lot of agricultural workers - for whom there was almost no work to be done in those years - decided to move to Rotterdam to become a porter. Between 1890 and 1900 the population of Rotterdam increased with over 100.000 people. Although wages for a porter were almost double than wages for a farmhand, life in the city was not easy for a dock worker. Only a few of them had a contract, thousands of others had to see day by day if it was possible to earn some money. Work was hard and dangerous. Working days of twenty hours were no exception because only one thing counted: a ship had to be unloaded within a certain amount of time. Because time is money. It took until 1916 when safety regulations were imposed by law. Dimensions of the object (hxw): 69 x 105 cm.