Suez Canal blocked by huge container ship

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

A vast container ship has run aground in the Suez canal after being blown off course by a “gust of wind”, causing a huge traffic jam of vessels at either end of the vital international trade artery.

The 220,000-tonne, 400 metre-long Ever Given – a so-called “mega ship” – became stuck near the southern end of the canal on Tuesday.

Several attempts to refloat it have failed.

Early reports speculated the vessel suffered a loss of power, but the ship’s operator, Evergreen Marine Corp, told Agence-France Presse: “The container accidentally ran aground after a suspected gust of wind hit it.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/24/huge-container-ship-blocks-suez-canal-evergreen

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Link to tweet

About 10% of global trade passes through the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and provides the shortest sea link between Asia and Europe.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-56505413

[AverageOldGuy]

1. Something I don't understand

I am not a marine engineer; don't even own a boat of any kind.

I don't understand what keeps these vessels upright. I mean -- look at the deck, stacked high with containers, each one weighing several thousand pounds. With all that weight on the top of the ship, why doesn't it roll over?

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Heavy engines as low down as possible

There must be rules on the weight of the containers for each ship (probably including putting the heavier ones low where possible, though the order of loading or unloading may not always allow that, I suppose).

They have to keep the centre of mass below the centre of buoyancy (which is the centre of the part below the waterline). It is possible to screw up; they may use some ballast down low just to keep it stable.

[Maxheader]

3. Lot of freight below decks..

Ballast....

[ga_girl]

9. Ask the operators of the Golden Ray

Misloaded the auto carrier and didn't pay attention to loading. Also allegations of mis ballesting and open hatches.

[MarcA]

12. The size and design of the keel are also important. n/t

[Turbineguy]

15. The engine weighs about 2300 tons

Each container and its position and weight is entered into the stability computer. Then sufficient ballast is taken on in the double bottom tanks to offset the top weight.

Containers have a reserve buoyancy on average of 30-40 tons each. So while the ship looks full, it is in fact only half full. The trick to making profits is to carry lighter goods. Less weight, less draft and less fuel consumption.

[jmowreader]

17. The deck of the ship is below the waterline

Take Emma Maersk, which is so big she can’t go to any US port. When she is loaded, 53 feet of her is below the surface of the ocean. Two feet above that is where the bottom containers are. And since Maersk knows the weight of every container to be loaded on her, they put the heaviest ones at the bottom.

[oldsoftie]

4. It'll be interesting to see how they handle this. That thing is HUGE

[Ace Rothstein]

5. Someone call Austin Powers

[FailureToCommunicate]

6. Hmmm. Intentional, or unintentional, prelude to military mischief ?

[BumRushDaShow]

7. I remember what Italy had to go through to upright the tipped over cruise ship Costa Concordia

and then float it enough to move it out...

I expect there are 2 things they could/would need to do - either bring in an unloaded barge and take off enough containers to float it (which to me might be the easiest way to take care of it) or they may have to create an inner "canal" - basically create a lock (because the Suez has no locks due to the water levels being similar on either side of the canal) that can allow a raising of the water level enough to float it so that it can be pushed with some tugs, into proper alignment. They could also dredge under it but that might take time too...

As a sidenote, the Panama Canal has locks -



I remember when I was in Egypt on a cruise on the Nile and our little ship going through the Esna Lock -



We went through it at night and I think it took about an hour for to fill the area enough to slowly float the boat and then release it out on the other side. It was dark but you could see the wall from the cabin window and see take note of the boat slowly rising.

[Lucinda]

8. KNR

[Traildogbob]

10. Been there, did that

I served aboard the USS Semmes DDG 18 through the 70’s. We had a junior Ensign that was night watch commander on the Quarter Deck when passing through the canal at night. A Destroyer is sleek, thin, very tall and the keel is very deep to compensate for the narrow and tall above water part of the ship. We just loaded the aft of the ship with supplies for a 3 week at sea stint. The keel dug into the substrate and there we were, holding up traffic for 8 hours of the 12 hour one direction traffic.
Thank God I was not on radar equipment in CIC that night. Huge burms on the shoreline and we heard heaven vehicles behind them all the time we were there. We had very little as far as hand weapons to defend an actual attempt to board us.
Lots of missiles, and huge cannons on the fan tail and stern area. We had to remove all supplies from the rear to the front to get the props out of the Sandy bottom. Ensign got a very bad spanking from our captain and fleet commander.

[dalton99a]

11. "Reports that the Ever Given has been partially refloated are inaccurate"

https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL1136229/Suez-Canal-remains-blocked-despite-efforts-to-re-float-grounded-Ever-Given
Suez Canal remains blocked despite efforts to re-float grounded Ever Given
Update: Reports that the Ever Given has been partially refloated are inaccurate according to technical manager BSM. Suez canal remains blocked and traffic is increasing at both ends of the canal

[Mickju]

13. A "gust" of wind can do that?

[FBaggins]

16. 45+ mph is quite a "gust"

On the beam with a sail area that large?

Yeah. It can do that.

[getagrip_already]

20. not for that ship.....

200k tons doesn't just get blown off course that easily. They have powerful thrusters at several points along the hull that could easily correct.

Also, any ship passing through a canal has a pilot on board in technical command of the ship while it is in the canal. So inexperience isn't likely an issue.

This was caused either intentional or caused through a malfunction.

But either way, a few someone's won't have jobs in the morning.

[FBaggins]

23. Absolutely "for that ship"

Beam winds on a large container ship (particularly with containers several-high above the upper deck) are quite high on the list. If the containers are largely empty on a return trip, it's even worse. Add the confined waterway and limited visibility of a sandstorm...

Also, any ship passing through a canal has a pilot on board in technical command of the ship while it is in the canal. So inexperience isn't likely an issue.

Which makes it more likely that conditions were an issue.

Note that the canal has previously closed due to high winds.

https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2015/02/12/Storm-Yohan-lashes-Mideast-shuts-Suez-Canal-

The Suez Canal southeast of Cairo was closed Wednesday, with 52 ships waiting to enter from the Red Sea as winds reached 74 kilometers per hour, officials told AFP.

[getagrip_already]

25. wind has less impact than you think on a ship wih that much mass

They compensate for the force with the thrusters, props, and rudders. The can actually hold a position in 30 knot winds without being anchored.

If they are making way at speed, it has little impact. Granted, they weren't at speed, but that ship should not have spiked the shore.

[Polybius]

14. That is one massive boat

Link to tweet

[taxi]

18. Freeing the ship is only the start

There is potential for hull damage - the hull has to be inspected by divers. That takes time. And the water in the canal cannot be polluted - any discharge of human waste, bilge oil, fuels or other contaminates would need to be cleaned up before the gates could open again. If cargo has to be removed for any reason that's another delay, and if all or a significant number of containers need to be offloaded, that's a whole different logistic.
IMO, that ship might as well be a white bronco.

[applegrove]

19. SS Mitch McConnell?

[taxi]

21. I like it nt

[applegrove]

24. Heard it somewhere else.

[tinymontgomery]

22. At least they didn't design a ship like this

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. Specialists on the scene: might need partial unloading, could take weeks

The SCA chairman, Osama Rabie, said: “Once we get this boat out then that’s it, things will go back to normal. God willing, we’ll be done today.”

However, Peter Berdowski, CEO of Boskalis, a specialist dredging company that has sent a crew to the scene, said data so far suggested “it is not really possible to pull it loose” and that the ship may need to be unloaded. “We can’t exclude it might take weeks, depending on the situation,” Berdowski told Dutch television.

He said the ship’s bow and stern had been lifted up against either side of the canal. “It’s like an enormous beached whale. It’s an enormous weight on the sand. We might have to work with a combination of reducing the weight by removing containers, oil and water from the ship, tugboats and dredging of sand.”

Peter Sands, chief shipping analyst at the shipowners association Bimco, said companies were still counting on the canal reopening soon, “but they are slowly moving to the second contingency plan where this will drag on for another four or five days, and they fear it could go on even longer”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/25/suez-canal-blocked-ship-ever-given-stuck