Suez Canal blocked after 400m-long container ship wedges against both sides of waterway

a reply to: pravdaseeker

Got to admit I laughed at this, as Ship's get bigger and heavier artificial canals like this need to be renovated and expanded, it was built originally to support the British and French empires and allow quicker trade around the world much as the Panama canal was but you know it has caused massive ecological damage to the Mediterranean sea, altered forever the ecology and allowed invasive pacific species to displace many that were native to the Med, probably did some harm in that manner on both sides.

I wish we had some other and better way but it is for Egypt a massive money spinner.

I can not fault the pilot but he should have known better, then again as ship's grow it's always going to be an educated guess, best scenario if they can not get it to budge (unless they already have) then they need to unload enough cargo to another freighter as they can in order to increase the vessels buoyancy and allow it to break free, still I wonder what the repair bill for a ship like that will be.

Once again I can not fault the pilot, dealing with ever heavier and larger ships is an unknown and all the pilot could probably do was make an educated guess which in this case proved wrong.

(unless it was the captain and the pilot had nothing to do with it which then will result in a criminal negligence case, not sure of the laws of Egypt but in general that would be the outcome and likely the captain losing his licence, still if so can't help but feel sorry for the poor sod)

As the World watches in anticipation the Meme hits move us to an alternate reality as Ever Taken grabs twitter by storm.

Current situation at Suez Canal explained.


Tension rises over new attempt to re-float ship...





I think the Dutch are the legendary salvage masters of the world.

So two years ago, the EVER GIVEN collided with a ferry boat at Hamburg harbor in Germany and severely damaged the small ferry.
twitter.com...

a reply to: EndtheMadnessNow

Easily fixed, just mount two heavy winch array's on either side of the canal and pull the ship straight, assuming the hull is strong enough the worst that will happen is some damage to the bow and the stern but the thing could be moved then.

I did not realize how narrow the canal was until I saw that image, at one time that would have been enough to allow two ship's to pass safely to either side but these day's with the ever growing size of modern vessel's, well?.

Maybe they should put a size restriction on vessel's like they do with old bridges for truck's or something, at least until they expand and dredge the canal even larger which by the look of things is a definite necessity due to the importance of the route globally.

a reply to: LABTECH767

It's up to the Dutch (Smit international) to dig/float/pull them out. Going by this wiki the Ever Given is ranked in Group #13 as world largest container ships. Note the length is identical but the beam (width) differs; Ever Given is 193 feet whereas the even larger have a beam of 200-202 feet.

Around 50 of these behemoth ships go through the Suez everyday so I'm guessing this was a freak accident OR serious human error.

If the salvage operation turns into long term closure than everything may get very expensive.

originally posted by: EndtheMadnessNow

If the salvage operation turns into long term closure than everything may get very expensive.

Funny how the descendants of the Liddle Ages Merchant class are trying to take over the world, and prices on goods are going to go up due to "human error".

Ships Still looks baked up.


www.marinetraffic.com...:31.6/centery:30.5/zoom:8

a reply to: mikell


Thanks for the follow up mikell.

Yes! A previous thread contributor said that website is a "couple hours" behind real time. And that time frame certainly makes sense to me.

Like you mentioned, it appears to still be blocking traffic at this time.

It has been quite a bit longer than 2 hours since it was reported to be "re-floated" and "underway".

Yet this website shows it still causing mayhem for traffic.

Either the updating of the website for maritime traffic is super duper extra slow, or someone was telling white lies about the ship being underway?

As in yep, the ship is not wedged anymore, BUT.... unable to proceed under its own power or something...

It might mean the cargo ship is still a navigation hazard... and apparently isn't moving as previously reported by news media, etc.?

If it was a blackout as they first reported, it might require parts for any boiler firing, or engine ignition sequences.

When I was once floating on a cruise ship "dead in the water".. it was because the steam boiler and oil firing control system had suffered a major failure.

They had to get a few spare parts brought in by boat.

A couple nights later, we dined with the engineering officer. He told me the dead in the water incident was all down to TWO electronic cards needed replacing. So, if the failure was of this type of nature, the captain just might escape a good "hiding/keel hauling".

Murphy's law is a brutal law that usually strikes at the most vulnerable moments, just to assert itself as a supreme law. Ha!

Pravdaseeker

Egypt's government is blaming Allah, the wind for the ship mishap blockage, and the Gulf Agency Company (GAC) had said the ship had a blackout, which they deleted that story. What if the real cause is: 1) The government-employed pilot (required to take control in the canal) made a horrible error, or 2) the ship really did have a power failure, or 3) The canal authority should not have allowed the ship to sail in bad windy weather...assuming they have denied transiting in the past due to high winds; or 4) the Insurance company/Companies would prefer an act of god vice human error. Regardless, there will be a battle of who was at fault.

The ship is not going anywhere till sometime next week at earliest as the Dutch company which is handling the salvage/refloat says it could be "days to weeks" to get the container ship moving again and they won't arrive till Sunday or Monday.
Dutch link

Oh bother.

Best Shot at Unblocking Suez Canal May Not Come Until Monday

Looks like it may be there all weekend.

Can we see the prices literly jumping up?

a reply to: beyondknowledge

Dear ATS Readers, Writers,

Great follow up there beyond knowledge....thanks!

If efforts fail in the next 24 hours or so... it is pump out a lot of fuel oil, and ballast water to lighten the ship! Argghhh, the debacle is more "pear shaped" than first disclosed.

From the link you gave mate....

The next opportunity would be another 12 to 14 days away, when tides are expected to swell again, said Sloane, who works as the senior salvage master for Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Resolve Marine Group.

So, it also appears the ship isn't even re floated at this point... good grief, you can't even trust MSM on a simple shipping disaster in a tiny ditch of water in the middle of a desert.

Yeah mate, your right... prices might be badly effected on some things for a while.

Pravdaseeker

a reply to: pravdaseeker
I am also concerned about all that stress on the keel. With both ends grounded, it could possibly break in half at low tide.

I would be unlatching the containers and pulling them over the side with the tugs by now. They are supposed to float.

originally posted by: Chance321
a reply to: pravdaseeker

I seriously doubt this is an "accident" this is a trial run. If we have any navy ships on the other side this would be a good time to attempt some kind of attack on them.

one can't help but think this was intentional
possibly a trial run, as you say.

or this might be a genuine accident, and inspire some future op.

somebody mentioned Cussler books. IIRC he had one where somebody floats a ship into the Panama Canal and blows it up in one of the locks.
one involved a ship blown up in the lower Mississippi, rerouting the channel etc.

thanks Pravdaseeker for the thread and your updates.

a reply to: ElGoobero

Had heard they may need to empty the ship to move it. What happens if they find some bad stuff in those containers (people, drugs, weapons)?

a reply to: beyondknowledge

Beyondknowledge,

Point well taken!

Depending on the physics involved, but you are right.. if the tide got low enough, she could bust her guts open at the keel.

Yep, good point, ships aren't made to suspend them by the bow and stern alone.

Well, lets cross our fingers that the tide doesn't get too low this weekend...and keel remains intact. It would be the pump down plan if it is another fail on the re-float effort.

Once pumped down, that "should" reduce stresses on the keel, if it comes to that option being needed.

This mess really is far from being sorted out. And as you pointed out, the dangers are still present for it to really turn to custard.

Pravdaseeker

twitter.com...

After the 1967 Six-Day War, the Suez Canal was closed to all shipping for 8 years.


twitter.com...

Curious about what a Suez Canal transit on a container ship looks like?


Brief video explainer of EVER GIVEN in-stuck-ness by experts @johnkonrad & @gCaptain.


Longer version: MV Ever Given and the Suez Canal - Sal Mercogliano and John Konrad of gCaptain March 24, 2021

Some interesting points being made about the ship.

Apparently... it drew a penis before it was grounded



Its managed by evergreen - Hillary Clintons Code name was evergreen

www.washingtonpost.com...

And its call sign is H3RC



This is all twitter but if true pretty strange.. begs the question..

Whats on the ship....

a reply to: pravdaseeker

The Suez and Panama Canal's vulnerability to traditional non- threats slipped under the radar. Strategically, bottle-necking either canal and Pearl Harbor is an alternative to occupying the surrounding land or destroying the existing infrastructure. The destruction of the channels and harbours would prevent their further employment by future combatants. Occupying the areas covered by this topic belongs to a WW3 scenario, and as such, it falls beyond this topic's scope.

a reply to: Agit8dChop

Its called evergreen

Ever Given. Evergreen is the name of the shipping company.

Cheers

a reply to: EndtheMadnessNow

Wonderful Wonderful post. Thankyou!

originally posted by: beyondknowledge
a reply to: pravdaseeker
I am also concerned about all that stress on the keel. With both ends grounded, it could possibly break in half at low tide.

I would be unlatching the containers and pulling them over the side with the tugs by now. They are supposed to float.

That's why I'm sticking with my "this is no accident" thought. I'd start watching the nations around there and see if any fighting starts to break out.