‘Just so.’ Holm clicked open his door and got out. Javed and Cornish got out too and the three of them stood in front of the cars. A giant blue crane straddled a line of containers and plucked one from the ground. Like some sort of monstrous insect it scurried away down the dockside to its lair, a huge ship already laden with hundreds of containers. The crane plopped the container onto the boat.

Cornish gestured and they began to walk across to a large warehouse. ‘This is a BIP, or border inspection post. Containers can be pulled in here for examination. There’s a refrigerated section for cargoes for human consumption and an ambient section.’

‘So it’s mainly health and safety?’

‘Yes. The Border Force have an X-ray scanning unit though. Any container can be passed through so it can be inspected without unloading the contents.’

‘So what has SeaPak and the murder of Ben Western got to do with this?’

‘I’m not sure, but as a manager at SeaPak Western had unrestricted access to shipping manifests and logs. Container shipping is a complicated business and each container has a number which identifies it. The number determines where the container goes. For instance that ship in the harbour.’ Cornish pointed to the boat at the end of the quay. ‘It could have come from the Baltic. Some containers might be offloaded and others might be loaded. Some may stay on the boat because they’re heading for an onward destination. The boat could then go to Rotterdam where a similar thing happens. And so it goes on, containers loaded on and off at every stop.’

Holm reached up and placed his palm against his forehead. The pain behind his eyes was, if anything, growing. ‘Your point?’

‘If you’ve got control of the manifests you can decide where each container goes. You can also falsify the records of what’s in each container.’

‘But you just said the Border Force can open and inspect any container they want.’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, there you are. Your theory breaks down.’

Cornish was silent for a moment. ‘Have you heard of the CSCL Globe?’

‘No, what is it? Sounds like some kind of movie award.’

‘Not quite. The China Shipping Container Lines Globe is one of the largest ships in the world. It’s four hundred metres long and can carry over nineteen thousand containers. And that’s just one ship. Each year this port handles over four million TEUs.’

‘TEUs?’ Holm thought again about a strong coffee and something sweet to eat.

‘Twenty-foot equivalent units,’ Cornish said. ‘No matter about the terminology, you get my point. Ten thousand containers a day. Up to four thousand lorry movements too. Then there are the trains.’

‘Bloody hell.’ Holm turned towards the quayside. Rows and rows of containers stretched into the distance, stacked three or four high.