Blocking Sea Traffic in the Suez Canal
"We sincerely apologize for causing a great deal of concern to the vessels scheduled to sail and their related parties while navigating the Suez Canal due to the accident of this vessel."Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd."Masters are held solely responsible for all damage or accidents of whatever kind resulting from the navigation or handling of their vessels directly or indirectly by day or night.""[Because the canal pilot] cannot know the defects or difficulties of manoeuverability for every vessel, [the final responsibility rests with the top officer on the ship]."Suez Canal Authority document"There are many challenges.""The increasing size of ships is one example. Wide-ranging weather conditions include sandstorms that can limit visibility severely, thus making the pilotage of large vessels extremely challenging.""Emergency situations such as blackouts and rudder jam onboard vessels transiting the canal can be critical in the channel."Sabry Nasr, head, Suez training centre
It is estimated that the 193-kilometre Suez Canal sees roughly 12 percent of all world trade passing through. Some 30 percent of all maritime trade travel ships through the Suez Canal. Should the delay in passage linger as a result of the giant container ship stuck in the canal, there might result a domino effect on world prices of goods.The diagonal position of the Ever Given resulting from a steering problem during a windy sandstorm several days ago has brought billions of dollars in trade goods to a screeching halt.
Operated by the Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine, owned by the Japanese company Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd. the vessel's 400 metre-long size made it a difficult ship to steer during a violent storm. Weighing over 220,000 tonnes, it is no simple matter to ease it away from the bank it has stuck itself on, securely gouged into the dirt on the canal's side. To the present, all methods of attempting to free the giant ship have failed.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, responsible as a marine management firm for the Ever Given, explained that "strong winds" had been faulted for grounding the ship. According to the ship owners "stormy weather" had been encountered during its passage through the historical canal where "gusting winds of 30 knots caused the container ship to deviate from its course, suspectedly leading to the grounding."
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| The Ever Given ship, viewed from satellite, remains stuck in the Suez Canal Maxar Technologies |
The Associated Press was informed by Bernhard Schulte Shipmenagement that "initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding". Container ships can find passage particularly perilous through the canal in the face of wind since such ships in tight spaces face navigational difficulties. The tens of thousands of sea-cans aboard meant to provide a wall for wind to blow against can produce tricky navigation.
The bank effect is another complicating issue where water between the canal bank and the ship's hull can impact steering as water flows from high pressure areas, meaning that ships are required to have a canal pilot on board who knows the canal and can pilot the ship through to safety. Two canal pilots had been aboard from the Suez Canal Authority when the ship ran aground. Canal pilots receive training through training simulators operated by the Suez Canal Authority's Maritime Training and Simulation Centre where via simulator training mimicking the challenegs and conditions of the canal take place.
How long the process will be to free the ship is difficult to estimate; anywhere from a day to weeks. A Dutch salvage firm has been working to free the ship: "It is, in a manner of speaking, a very heavy whale on on the beach", Peter Berdowski, chairman of Boskalis explained. Brought in to help, SMIT Salvage, one of the companies that lifted the Russian Kurk submarine from the bed of the Barents Sea in 2000 is also on hand. As well, Nippon Salvage Co. has been conracted as well. Boskalis is busy dredging the side of the canal hoping to free the ship.
Possibly a following step might be to remove the cargo, fuel and ballast from the ship to make it lighter and more readily floatable. A fleet of tug boats has been employed, pushing and pulling in hopes of refloating the giant ship by pulling it away from the banks -- with, to the present. no sign of success in the offing.
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| This photo released by the Suez Canal Authority on Thursday, March 25, 2021, shows two tugboats next to the Ever Given, a Panama-flagged cargo ship, after it become wedged across the Suez Canal and blocking traffic in the vital waterway from another vessel. An operation is underway to try to work free the ship, which further imperiled global shipping Thursday as at least 150 other vessels needing to pass through the crucial waterway idled waiting for the obstruction to clear. (Suez Canal Authority via AP) |
Labels: Blockage, Giant Container Ship, Salvage, Sandstorm, Ship's Passage, Suez Canal
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, March 27, 2021
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