On Tuesday 23 March 2021, early morning in strong winds that gushed across the 193 km long Suez Canal, the lifeline of global maritime trade connecting Asia and Europe, MV EverGiven (pictured on the right) commissioned in 2018, with a capacity of 20,000 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) with a draught of 15.7 m, length 399.94 m and width 59 m was rocked in the canal and got itself wedged and stranded on the northern coast blocking passage of other ships.
Simulation (
click here) of what happened on the morning of Tuesday 23 March '21
in a portion of the 193 km long man-made 151 years old Suez Canal. Suez Canal accounts for
12% of all marine global trade and 30% global container
traffic, connecting Red Sea and Mediteranean Sea, fully passing thru
Egyptian territory.
Ships plying in this route between North Atlantic
and Indian Ocean on average save almost 9000kms distance and 8-10
sailing days than going around Cape of Good Hope around tip of Africa
...
The 200,000 DWT (2,40,000 Tonnes Gross Tonnage) MV EverGiven plying
under the banner of Taiwan based Evergreen Shipping line from Rotterdam, Holland to Asia got stranded,
leading to a pileup of roughly 200 ships on either side, which could
take couple of weeks for a recovery and millions of dollars. The cost
incurred is only due to delay of delivery of goods and not material
damage.
Ever Given is a Golden-class 200,000 T DWT container ship, among the largest
container ships in the world, carrying about 20,000 (Twenty Foot Equivalent) TEU containers. It is owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha, and
time chartered and operated by Taiwanese container transportation and
shipping company Evergreen Marine - wikipedia
The Suez Canal is an important man made waterway connecting the continents of Asia and Europe that reduces the travel distance between the two continents around Cape of Good Hope by almost 9000 kms and about 7-10 days of sailing.
There are many other ships, at least two hundred of them that are caught in the Suez Canal (pic 4) and this is blocking the passage of goods from Asia to Europe and back. About $200 billion of India based merchandise was also involved. The global oil prices will be the first to be affected. If the ships plan to reverse and go via the Cape of Good Hope, it is going to take another 10-12 days and fuel, increasing costs.
Among
the solutions being proposed, emptying the ship of its 20,000 TEU containers and
pulling it by tugs at high tide to help rescue it out of the canal banks where it has
been caught looks possible.
If that is not practical, stronger tugs should pull it from the northern end to release it to the canal waters. At present global maritime experts and engineers are breaking their head on how to tide over the crisis that has entered the sixth day by Sunday 28 March. One of the rescue efforts being planned is dredging on either side of
the ship using 200ft long cranes.
The Dead Weight Tonnage DWT (weight of fuel, load, ballast, crew included) of the EverGiven is 200,000 T and net Tonnage is 100,000 T. Even if the 100,000 T cargo
is emptied from the ship, trying to set free the stranded huge container ship is
going to be a herculean task. About 40 ships get added daily to the 200 long queue of ships waiting for Suez Canal passage.
Time is of greatest concern here. Was it a pilot error, bad weather or engine failure that led to this mishap, it is still not clear.
For the total 350 container ships expected to be stranded in the Suez waters in coming three days, their precious cargo of about $10 billion daily is getting delayed affecting availability, on time delivery and costs. Oil ships have also been stranded which may raise global oil prices this week or next, till oil supplies are restored.
With about 20,000 ships passing through the canal annually, the Suez is the most valuable shipping lines in the world where almost $1 trillion worth goods get transported in the Asia Europe trade annually. The pile up is costing the world almost $3 billion daily, in terms of fuel, rent, delay etc.
How is Suez Canal different from Panama Canal ?
Click here ..
Click here for a case study on the Evergiven Suez Canal incident ..
George..
On Tuesday 23 March 2021, early morning in strong winds that gushed across the 193 km long Suez Canal, the lifeline of global maritime trade connecting Asia and Europe, MV EverGiven (pictured on the right) commissioned in 2018, with a capacity of 20,000 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) with a draught of 15.7 m, length 399.94 m and width 59 m was rocked in the canal and got itself wedged and stranded on the northern coast blocking passage of other ships. 
Well said George Sir! This is certainly one of the worst supply chain disruptions along with global pendency for global trade. One must say, losing 400 million USD a day is certainly worrisome situation.
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