Stuck ship in Egypt's Suez Canal imperils shipping worldwide

mmwkdw

And before anyone Complains.... Please note, I direct this towards the CCP .. alone, period.

Some conspiracy theories make sense, others dont. Yours falls in the latter category. The CCP is interested in continuing being the base of Western supply chains, not interrupting that.

It is hard to assume that the two accidents were just a coincidence.

You are the only one making assumptions. The rest of us can wait for an investigation.

@Desert Tortoise

There are 11 ships in the class. This is the only unit of 11 to have had a mishap. One cannot say there is an inherent flaw in the design. Let the mishap investigation determine the cause.

A similar accident happened just a few months ago. It is hard to assume that the two accidents were just a coincidence.

https://youtu.be/M5rX5EWmWVk

The cargo was built in Japan by Imabari Shipbuilding in 2018, and thereafter caused 2 accidents, implying possible inherent flaws in the design and construction of the ship.

There are 11 ships in the class. This is the only unit of 11 to have had a mishap. One cannot say there is an inherent flaw in the design. Let the mishap investigation determine the cause.

Huge ships are like sails on a sailboat in heavy winds. Try a real sailing simulator and see how hard managing course is in channels with currents, winds with very little room to maneuver. The London Naval Observatory and Museum has one of those simulators ... probably dumbed down to be easy. My 5 attempts all failed. Ships of this size have to plan 2-5 miles ahead.

Perhaps with a number of tugs, this could have been avoided, but by the time that is recognized, the tugs probably couldn't get there and in sufficient numbers to prevent the grounding.

No doubt they are just trying to keep health insurance costs low. Certainly no attempts at changing languages to help discourage financial record tracing.

This is standard, and the way shipping works economically for all parties.

The cargo was built in Japan by Imabari Shipbuilding in 2018, and thereafter caused 2 accidents, implying possible inherent flaws in the design and construction of the ship.

It doesn't imply anything of the kind, unless one is obsessed with somehow finding Japan to be at fault.

Ok the story is interesting But far more interesting is all this:

Ship owned by Japanese.

Ship registered in Panama

Ship managed by German company

Ship operated by Taiwanese company

Ship crewed by Indians.

I mean talk about one strange go around.

No doubt they are just trying to keep health insurance costs low. Certainly no attempts at changing languages to help discourage financial record tracing.

The cargo was built in Japan by Imabari Shipbuilding in 2018, and thereafter caused 2 accidents, implying possible inherent flaws in the design and construction of the ship.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden-class_container_ship

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Given

ZaphodMar. 25  03:42 pm JST

Stuck ship in Egypt's Suez Canal imperils shipping worldwide

Totally amazing to think that 1 single ship can affect the whole world wide transportation system.

Even now the Suez is extremely important. In the 60s Nasser tried to block Israeli ships from sailing thru it, and in the 80s American minesweeperrs were cleaning the area of landmines that neighboring Libya had planted there. Qaddafy was a friend to nobody.

Just like truck drivers need to study the capacity of a bride and the height of a tunnel or overpass, ship captains should learn about the depth of the canal, and how deep the ship will sink with cargo. And other information about low tide times to avoid, silt built up concerns, etc.

All of that is standard fare for maritime captains. There are a whole series of calculations concerning tide depth, direction and speed, channel depth, when to turn the ship including what points on shore (range markers) to reference and the magnetic direction to them at the turning point, etc that are accomplished by the ship's navigator prior to the evolution. Standard stuff. Ship classes are built to a specific set of maximum dimensions to fit that canal under all conditions. They are called "Suezmax" ships. Similarly there are "Panamax" ships that are the maximum allowable size for the Panama canal. The largest ships are called "Capesize". They are too big for either canal and must pass around either the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn to pass between the major oceans. This wasn't the first trip of the Ever Given through the Suez. We have to wait for a formal mishap report to really know the cause. Until then nobody can speak with authority about what caused the mishap.

Loading upon Ship - it does not appear to be heavily loaded, bu carries lots of containers (empty?)

Look at photos of the ship at high tide. The water is almost up to the painted waterline. It is fully loaded. You are looking at images of it when the tide is low and both the bow and stern are into the sand banks of the canal. You can also see the ship heeling at low tide while it is level at high tide. Both ends are stuck in opposite banks of the canal and this suspends the ship at low tide, making it appear lightly loaded.

A skyscraper-sized cargo ship

"Skyscraper-sized" isn't a standardized unit of measure. Could've measured it in football fields, that's also ridiculous but at least semi-useful.

A lesson to be taken away would seem to be that ships this large should not be allowed through the Suez or Panama canals, because they are too difficult to control, and they too easily can shut down the canals.

No, the lesson would be that canals critical for global trade should be built wide enough to accommodate more than one ship.

And before anyone Complains.... Please note, I direct this towards the CCP .. alone, period.

Not towards Asian people, or Chinese people, or anyone else, but, clearly and directly, at the CCP and specifically it's Leadership that is directing these "Attacks" upon Humanity, both Locally and Globally.

My Personal view, is that this is another CCP attack situation - and what we will next see is this ship suddenly sinking across the canal, blocking its use for a long time. The reason for sinking will be damage caused through "grounding" but... if you believe that, then Elvis is still Alive.

I'd call for an investigation.

Loading upon Ship - it does not appear to be heavily loaded, bu carries lots of containers (empty?)

Connections to Chinese CCP - any influence / dealings that can be identified Officially

Precise meteorological conditions being obtained at the time, since if this is an event that could occur again, what action needs taking - is the Canal the problem ? Does it need dredging ?

According to bloomberg, before his Death:

China Relations

Chang also was an advocate of closer economic relations between Taiwan and China. In 2008, Taiwanese and Chinese airlines including his group’s EVA Airways began regular flights across the Taiwan Strait after the lifting of a six-decade ban on direct transport links.

Blame the CCP again... I'd bet they've been bought out by the CCP in order to maintain Chinese Shipping rights in order to just cause this type of "accidental" shipping accident at such an "inconvenient place"... to effect Global Trade... again!

China:'s CCP is attacking the World again... its time everyone woke up and smelled the sh1t smell and took action.

World trade just took another hit, so it means for those shopping on amazon that your freight cost will now go up and the people who arrange can justify by simply saying oh shite but the canal .,.......................................ocean freight ...................yeah right

Drunken sailors again !!!!!

Mean while George Fred Harry Mildred and everyone else who shops gets twisted

Now, EverGreen is founded by a Taiwanese person - Chang. Should we now say this is another attack by the Chinese CCP upon the Global Society, or will the Chinese CCP disown this Taiwanese Organisation and say it's got nothing to do with China ?

The thing that makes this story perfect for our times is the course the ship took before entering the canal was a naughty shape.

The Ever Given, built in 2018 with a length of nearly 400 meters (a quarter mile) and a width of 59 meters (193 feet), is among the largest cargo ships in the world

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Tuesday marked the second major crash involving the Ever Given in recent years. In 2019, the cargo ship ran into a small ferry moored on the Elbe River in the German port city of Hamburg. Authorities at the time blamed strong wind for the collision, which severely damaged the ferry.

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Two major crashes (inside its first 3 years) and both blamed on the wind.

Wind is the major problem for container ships and as they get bigger, it will be worse.

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In Egypt, if the 50 km wind was blowing straight across the canal, that that would be a serious problem for any container ship.

The wind would hit the massive flat side of the ship (which would act like a sail) and push it sideways.

They should have know this was likely if they had studied the wind speeds, direction and how large the side of the ship is.

Even with bow thruster, they would have had difficulty.

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An initial report suggested the ship suffered a power blackout before the incident, something Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement denied Thursday.

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If they admit to a power failure, the ship owners would be liable for all claims from other ships that are delayed.

While they denied that, the canal pilots can also be blamed and share in the costs..

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BigYenToday 04:46 pm JST

Really? I find it very hard to believe that 50 km/h winds are anything unusual in Egypt or anywhere else, for that matter. If this ship was heading for the Indian Ocean, 50 km/h winds would be nothing out of the ordinary.

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Try holding a quarter square meter board flat to a 50km wind and see how well you can walk in a straight line on a bed of marbles, as the wind blow straight from the side.

Even low winds can affect a ship.

The larger the ship, the more it is affected.

In open water you can angle the ship to the wind, unlike in a narrow channel.

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They should increase the canal width to at lest 100 meters longer than the longest ship.

So if even if it runs aground, the other end will be in deep water.

Yes the owner is Japanese from Shikoku and public ally apologized today

Ok the story is interesting But far more interesting is all this:

Ship owned by Japanese.

Ship registered in Panama

Ship managed by German company

Ship operated by Taiwanese company

Ship crewed by Indians.

I mean talk about one strange go around.

Do you all think this is really an accident........It's all about oil and money and who is in control!

@ Hercolobus: So you didn't read what I wrote above. More theoretical nonsense.

Just like truck drivers need to study the capacity of a bride and the height of a tunnel or overpass, ship captains should learn about the depth of the canal, and how deep the ship will sink with cargo. And other information about low tide times to avoid, silt built up concerns, etc.

Incorrect @Richard Gallagher: Japanese Owner, Taiwanese Operator, sailing under a (I believe) Panamanian Flag.

Just an unfortunate incident. Ships sailing through the canal, which is Egyptian state owned are obligated to have Egyptian Pilots on board during transit.

The ship is owned by a Taiwanese company. Not Japanese.

Try a land or another route.

I think I read that this is the largest container ship in the world. A lesson to be taken away would seem to be that ships this large should not be allowed through the Suez or Panama canals,

Thank you for your expertise. We will promptly shut down all shipping lines, as our experts who have spent decades in the commercial shipping business have never thought of this.

The ship is owned by a Japanese company in Imabari in Ehime. The apologized today for disrupting world shipping and promised to do their best to fix the problem.

@1glenn - it's the second largest - 20,000+ containers, A Korean ship MCS Gulsun handles 23,000+ Still big!

@fozaducati - not all of the canal is double lane, work is on-going at the northern end, and the southern end after Great Bitter Lake is single.

I think I read that this is the largest container ship in the world. A lesson to be taken away would seem to be that ships this large should not be allowed through the Suez or Panama canals, because they are too difficult to control, and they too easily can shut down the canals. So, the Ever Given is suitable only for the China to West Coast routes.

They have widened it and making it double “lane”, but supertankers will still have to go around South-Africa. In my apprentice year as engineer, I had the misfortune of being placed on a cargo ship sailing between Rotterdam and some place in Saudi Arabia, along the Persian Gulf. It meant passing that channel 10 times. In those days there weren’t these huge container ships. Considering the size of the broadside of those ships, it’s possible to be blown off course by the wind.

The danger of over reliance on global supply chains, sourcing cheap goods from China and other places.

But...for a 70,000 ton freighter, the extra cost of going around the Cape of Good Hope - 12-14 days extra is around 350,000 US$ - ship hire, crew, running costs, fuel, no Suez Canal fee, so more for a 220,000 Ton Gross weight ship.

And that would go on top of the sales price of the goods.

The name on the side of the ship says evergreen but the story says ever given.

If you look closely, you can see EVER GIVEN is on the front of the ship in the third picture.

Sven Asai

@Zaphod. That’s a little bit exaggerated. lol About 10% of the world’s sea transports are affected.

That still means the whole worlds sea transports are affected. Why do you think your 10% are somehow separated from the rest?

The captain/pilot was making a grand gesture . Epic even. Just google the articles on the route he took before running aground.

By the way along with all the other erroneous info banded around on this post, that is not a backhoe digging near the ship. A Frontend Loader maybe but not a backhoe.

Strong winds they say hmmmm, ..............

Just lowering those anchors must supply some extra buoyancy. Each one looks bigger than the shovel loader.

Sand storms were not calculated in risk assessment for a vessel this size. No hint was taken from what happened in Hamburg.

The name on the side of the ship says evergreen but the story says ever given.

@Zaphod. That’s a little bit exaggerated. lol About 10% of the world’s sea transports are affected. Well , let’s add another 10% for the virtual damage by all those news and panic hypes.

Authorities began work again to free the vessel Thursday morning after halting for the night

They wanna get a grip and sort out some night shifts, Europeans are waiting for their Chinese tat.

Stuck ship in Egypt's Suez Canal imperils shipping worldwide

Totally amazing to think that 1 single ship can affect the whole world wide transportation system. No wonder that the CCP is enthusiastic about taking control of harbours and water ways world-wide, such as the Panama Canal.