Normally when I label something with "weather," there are photos of floods. But in this case the weather issue was a high crosswind component against the current class of large ships that is 400m (1300') long.
Because the canal was one way, a convoy system was adopted in 1947. In 2015, Egypt finished a nearly $8.5 billion project to upgrade the canal. The main channel was deepened. The project also added a 22-mile parallel channel to facilitate two-way transit through the canal. [Britannica] Unfortunately, the following accident happened where there is only one channel.
This grounding happened around 7:45am on Mar 23, 2021.
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| safe_image for Egypt's Suez Canal blocked by huge container ship [The 400m (1,312') ship was knocked off course by strong winds. "Egypt has reopened the canal's older channel to divert some traffic until the grounded ship can move again. The blockage sent oil prices climbing on international markets...About 12% of global trade passes through the Suez Canal."] |
The Mar 25, 2021, Chicago Tribune had a photo of the bow area showing an excavator digging the bow bulb out of the canal wall. You can see the yellow excavator near the bow in the above photo. A comparable photo is the first one in this photo gallery. Captions on other photos indicate the canal is 193km (120 miles) long with three natural lakes, and it is used by an average of 51.5 ships per day.
I found the source of the above referenced photo in the photo gallery on a government site.
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| SuezCanal [The ship is a of the Panamanian class.] "The floatation efforts included towing and pushing the grounding vessel using 8 large tugboats; largest of which is BARAKA 1 with a towing power of 160 tons." |
I was wondering if the ship had bow thrusters. I see two white circles in the above photo so maybe it has two thrusters. I saw a report that the sandstorm had a 50kph (30mph) crosswind component. As they make container ships larger, they are making a bigger sail for the wind. They may need to add more thrusters or dock the big ships in one of the lakes when the winds pick up.
Because the canal was dug through sand, the sides would be tapered. That is, the cross section of the canal is a trapezoid. That means the ship has plowed through a lot of sand on its way to the visible edge of the canal.
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| SuezCanal, cropped |
There were two pilots on board. The owner insists this accident was due to wind rather than mechanical or engine failure. (That sounds like an act-of-god vs. negligence issue to me, which becomes important when people start talking liability and/or insurance payments.) "Each day the Suez Canal is closed disrupts over $9 billion worth of goods that should be passing through the waterway." This ship can carry 20,000 containers. "Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal is a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo. It also remains one of Egypt’s top foreign currency earners. In 2015, the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi completed a major expansion of the canal, allowing it to accommodate the world’s largest vessels. However, the Ever Given ran aground south of that new portion of the canal." [APnews]
An abandoned railroad swing bridge that used to cross the canal
Update: This not only identifies the location of the accident, it shows where the second channel was built.
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| Screenshot |
This is a photo similar to the one the Chicago Tribune used. I presume the bow thruster markers are out-of-frame to the right.
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| Screenshot |
Updates:
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| Adam Davis shared [Do they carry enough fuel to make the longer trip?] |
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| safe_image for Thousands of animals aboard cargo ships could die if Suez Canal remains blocked, NGO warns |
ABC reports the ship is free (source) The report says that now that it moving again that they are going to unload all of the containers. But they don't say why they need to be removed. Do they already know that it will fail inspection? Ships with livestock are being allowed to be the first ships through the canal. The reporter gave an estimate of over 10 days to clear the backlog of over 420 ships. Dozens of other ships are already using the Cape of Good Hope route. Two big tugs sent by the salvage company arrived in time to catch Monday's high tide.
NBC's video also reports 10 days to clear, but at the end of its text it says 3.5 days. (source)
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| safe_image for The Ever Given Is Powered By A 79,500-HP Diesel Engine Bigger Than Most Houses [A lot of news sources have claimed this ship can carry, 20,000 containers. This article cofirms it is TEUs. Since most international containers are now 40' and a TEU is 20', there is a factor of almost two difference. (Domestic containers are 53'.) Cruising speed is 22.8 knots or 26 mph. Each bow trhuster is 3,400 HP. I don't understand why these ships are still single screw. They should go to more of a catamaran style hull with with twin screws closer to the size. The inside of the catamaran doesn't have to be out of the water. It just has to be high enough to allow water to flow down the center to provide flow past the screws and less resistance to the water. The main reason for two engines would be reliability. But having more control over the front end of the ship would obviously help.] |
March 31 blancolirio update He confirms what I've been thinking: these 400 meter ships are so new that the rules haven't been updated to reflect their reality. Bow thrusters are ineffective above 3-4 knots and the ship was running at 13 knots to minimize the crab angle into the wind. Bow thrusters were designed to help maneuver in ports, not to keep a ship centered in a canal.
Another video They finally got more than one excavator working on the bow. I presume the two big sea tugs in front when they are going up the canal are the two that were sent by the salvage company. They arrived just the day before. The big blue dredging machine was also interesting.
The Ever Given displaces more water than all four Iowa class battleships. [video]
Why would there be two ferries operating so close to a bridge? And there was another soon after this one at 2:40.
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I didn't watch this, I include it for completeness.
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