Monday morning, the Ever Given was set free and fully afloat
By Nancy Thorner -
On Friday, March 27, 2020, Fox News host Tucker Carlson criticized the U.S. Department of Defense under the Biden/Harris administration of being too “woke” to respond to the chaos caused by the Ever Given, the gigantic container ship blown sideways in the Suez Canal early in the morning on Tuesday, March 23, 2020. Until then, I was unfamiliar with this story.
Carlson said, “If you’re wondering whether our military leadership has gone ‘woke,’ [The closure of the canal] is a challenge to America’s critical national interest. How is the Pentagon responding to that? Well, they’re occupied with other things right now, such as Diversity and Inclusion."
"For the last month, the entire U.S. military has been operating under a so-called ‘stand down’ order that was issued by the new Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the defense contractor now running the military. Lloyd Austin believes the real threat to America is not the Chinese government or paralyzed global trade—the real threat to this country is people who didn’t vote for Joe Biden.”
This morning, Sunday, March 28, 2020, John Haller reported on the Suez canal here about the hour mark on the video.
After hearing Tucker's discussion, my interest led me to an investigation of the unprecedented mishap.
About the Suez Canal
The Suez Canal in the Red Sea is 1,000 ft. wide remaining shut since early morning on Tuesday, March 23, 2020, as Egyptian authorities worked to clear a sideways wedged 1300 ft ship; experts warned a resumption of traffic through the channel could be weeks away The canal connects markets from Europe to Asia. It is a transit point for oil products refined in Europe and crude oil from North African and Black Sea ports. See dredging tug boat efforts here.
Approximately $400 million an hour in goods is being delayed by the cargo ship. See 3 min video here.
Singapore’s transport minister told port authorities prepare for disruptions. “Some draw down on inventories will become necessary” if the blockage is prolonged. Ducati Motor Holding said some customers of its high-end motorcycles, built at a Bologna, Italy probably won’t get their bikes on time.
Tugboats and a dredger resumed work early Thursday, 3/25/21 attempting to dig out the Ever Given—a 1,300-foot ship operated by Taiwan-based Evergreen Group—partially refloat it and move it out of the way. As the day progressed, people involved in the operation described an increasingly tricky engineering and logistics challenge.
Al Jazeera video news report
Following is a video news report from Aljezees Arab news:
As noted in the Al Jazeera video: Global shipping is in chaos because of a mishap on a major waterway. The Ever Given container ship became jammed on the Suez Canal in Egypt. This has created a tailback of other cargo vessels carrying goods in both directions between Asia and Europe. Egypt says it hopes to be able to dislodge the ship and reopen the canal, but what will happen if the blockage isn't cleared soon?
There will be giant problems for global trade, carrying billions of dollars of goods between Asia and Europe. Experts fear it could be weeks before the Canal can be opened.
- High winds blew ship off course to run aground on Tuesday, March 23, 2021.
- 12% of global trade passes through the canal.
- The Canal is 193 Killometer long.
- At 1,300 feet long, the Ever Given is almost as big as the Empire State Building and weighs over 200,000 tons.
- Closure is costing the global economy $3 billion a day.
- The 193-kilometer canal cuts through Egypt linking the Metertanian and the Red Sea. The Suez Canal allows a route from South-East Asia to Europe that takes around 3 weeks. The other route is around the Cape of Good Hope and takes at least a week longer.
- Oil prices have started to rise because of concern that supplies will be affected.
No one really knows how long the blockage will last. Even if cleared tomorrow, it will still take a long time to clear the backlog of ships waiting to get through the canal.
Date set by owner to refloat stuck ship
Japan's EVERGREEN shipping company “Ever Given” owner had aimed to refloat its stuck container ship, the Ever Given, by the night of Saturday March 27, 2021. As the Suez Canal remains blocked for a fourth consecutive day approximately seven LNG carriers have been diverted, out of which four were laden and three were ballast ships.
Just this week, Russia's state nuclear agency Rosatom has been promoting the Northern Sea Route as an alternative to traditional routes in light of the very serious situation in the Suez Canal, which has prevented any maritime movement through that strategic choke point since it ran around on March 23.
Rosatom is notably responsible for operating Russia's unique fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers, which includes the Arktika, the largest ship of this type with any kind of propulsion in the world.
March 26th through March 28th updates
The Ever Given is still blocking the Suez Cancel at tremendous cost to the world's economy.
Suez Canal authorities need to remove up to 706,000 cubic feet of sand to free the Ever Given.
A new tugboat has joined the ranks of those struggling to free the giant cargo ship blocking the crucial Suez Canal maritime route. But many challenges remain
Efforts to dislodge stranded Suez Canal container ship intensify as backlog grows.
Six day after the Ever Given got stuck, as blocked ships back up, hopes turn to tide and time
Syria forced to ration fuel as stricken ship keeps Suez Canal blocked.
Belated good news
Just as Thorner was getting ready to call it a night last night (Sunday), a notice popped up on her computer screen that salvage teams had freed the Ever Given in the Suez Canal, according to maritime services provider Inchcape, almost a week after the giant vessel ran aground in one of the world’s most important trade paths.
As the article states:
"While the ship is floating again, it wasn’t immediately clear how soon the waterway would be open to traffic, or how long it will take to clear the logjam of more than 450 ships stuck, waiting and en route to the Suez that have identified it as their next destination."
"The backlog is one more strain for global supply chains already stretched by the pandemic as the canal is a conduit for about 12% of global trade. Some ships have already opted for the long and expensive trip around the southern tip of Africa instead of Suez."
"The breakthrough in the rescue attempt came after diggers removed 27,000 cubic meters of sand, going deep into the banks of the canal."
I never did learn whether the U.S. military was of any help in the recovering effort to dislodge the stranded Ever Given from the Suez Canal.
