Blocked Suez Canal - things that had never crossed my mind

Listening to an expert on the radio last night I was very surprised by a few facts that he gave. First was this ship is carrying 20,000 containers! Just think of it. Then that the clearance on either side of this monster is 9 inches so no room for error. Also that the wind blew up a fierce sandstorm which makes visibility nil. All in all a disaster that was inevitable.
I’m worried now about a remark up thread about some ships carrying livestock, hope they have enough food and water for them.

Filled up our oil tank last week, phew. Agree about reduction in Chinese plastic crap but aren't they building a new Silk Road to get it here faster and avoid the Suez Canal.

Well the livestock won't be ! Poor suffering things, it's all I'm worried about.

Bijou
It’s displacement that allows them to float.

I wonder how these huge heavy ships float at all. The Suez Canal was built for much smaller ships and hasn’t been adapted for these giants.

My husband was chief engineer on board huge tankers virtually all his working life. Just think of those on board and how long they have been away from home. Just THINK if one person got covid (always possible with new people from shore getting on board). l pray all those involved are OK never mind the cargo being late.

I remember travelling to India as a small child in 1960 and going through the canal - which happened on my fourth birthday and made a doubly deep impression on me. The pictures on the news were remarkably close to my memories.

If shipping is re-routed round the Horn of Africa, there's real danger of piracy

Alishka that has been mentioned but I thought if all shipping was re-routed then the pirates might find they had met their match.
Although I do know that, huge as these container ships are, they don't have a large crew.

I’m just wondering about insurance claims.

It's almost laughable that teeny weeny digger trying to dig the container out, (I expect it is not as alone as the newspaper depicts).
Between Brexit, the Pandemic and now a jammed container ship, can't help wondering if the end of the world is nigh!!

Very interesting post, thank you.

There are live animals in one of the ship’s queuing up. I bet they’re suffering poor creatures

GrammarGrandma

I saw an amusing comment on Facebook that everyone makes mistakes but not everyone makes one whose consequences can be seen from outer space.

That really made me laugh Grammar (I’m not a FB user) so thanks for sharing the joke!

I’m breathing a great sigh of relief as we were cruising up the Suez Canal two years ago and can imagine our awful it would be to be stuck there. My selfish thoughts aside, I feel for the shipping stuck there and the economic impact of this will be dreadful. I hope things resolve soon.

Surprised its not happened before its a tight squeeze getting through

One of the largest container ships in the world - I was really taken aback by the aerial views of the sheer numbers of containers and sadly, my first thought was that I hoped there were no people stuck in those containers - I'm sure there are and my stomach is turning to imagine what this interruption to their journey is doing to their lives.

These things happen. I don't let such things stress me. Live, adjust and smile....

I saw an amusing comment on Facebook that everyone makes mistakes but not everyone makes one whose consequences can be seen from outer space.

What a pity Thunderbirds don’t exist in real life. They’d Have sorted it out!

Alishka
Nothing that a grenade launcher couldn’t sort out ?

NotSpaghetti

It was blocked for a day I think in 2017 - I remember reading about the chaos even a short blockage causes. I think in that case the ship was just tugged away.

I vaguely remember reading about that too.
If shipping is re-routed round the Horn of Africa, there's real danger of piracy

It was blocked for a day I think in 2017 - I remember reading about the chaos even a short blockage causes. I think in that case the ship was just tugged away.

Always look on the Bright Side. Never mind about toilet rolls. Remember instead that we have our own oil and its value has gone up by 6%.

We loved it when we fitted a bow thruster to our barge. Not on the same scale, though. Only 80ft. Very handy pieces of kit.

Callistemon ah yes, bow thrusters!

Ro60 the cause was a strong gust of wind and the very high flat sides of such ships. Think of the problems high-sided vehicles have on motorways in windy conditions. and magmify that many, many times.

The Suez Canal Authority achieved its second highest annual tonnage figures in 2020, falling only behind the records of 2019, while also recording the third highest annual revenue in the history of the canal https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/suez-canal-maintained-volumes-in-2020-and-extends-incentives-for-2021

A recent major project has doubled the capacity of the canal, but the size of container vessels is growing faster than canals and some ports. It is like the problems we had in 1960s when oil tankers were doubling their size every few years, ending with some spectacular groundings.