Suez canal blocked after massive container ship breaks down
Suez Canal is BLOCKED as enormous 1,312ft, 200,000-ton cargo ship Ever Given runs aground – causing tailbacks snaking HUNDREDS of miles as every tugboat in Egypt is sent to help clear shipping lane
- The 200k-tonne MV Ever Given lost power while going through the Suez Canal
- The 1,312ft long vessel is blocking the entire width of the major shipping lane
- Some 14 vessels travelling behind the Ever Given are also stuck in the canal
One of the world’s largest container ships has blocked the Suez canal causing a massive traffic jam after breaking down while transiting the major shipping lane.
The Taiwan-owned, Panama-registered MV Ever Given reportedly lost power before drifting across the entire width of the canal and becoming jammed, with its bow lodged on the canal’s eastern wall and its stern against the western one.
The vessel, which is 1,312ft long, 175ft wide and weighs almost 200,000 tons, was part of a 20-ship convoy and was around four miles into the 120-mile canal heading north when it lost power.
GAC, a global shipping and logistics company, described the Ever Given as suffering ‘a blackout while transiting in a northerly direction’, without elaborating.
The MV Ever Given, pictured, has blocked the entire width of the Suez Canal causing a massive traffic jam
The Ever Given was part of a 20-ship convoy heading north through the canal, from Suez Gulf into the Mediterranean
Several tugs are assisting the Ever Given, which has been stuck for more than 12 hours
Social media users soon noticed the delays caused by the Ever Green’s mechanical problems
The 15 vessels behind have to wait for the Ever Given to be cleared before they can continue their journey.
Worse still, vessels planning to travel from the north are also halted because of the incident.
The three-year-old vessel is owned by the major shipping company Evergreen.
Data from Marine Traffic shows several tugs attending to the stricken vessel, though they have failed to pull it clear.
The vessel is carrying cargo from Yantain, China to Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Initial efforts to refloat the vessel, including digging sand from around its bow and pulling it with tugboats, were unsuccessful with efforts due to resume at 7am today.
Dr Sal Mercogliano, a maritime historian based in the US state of North Carolina, told the BBC that if efforts to dig or pull the ship free don’t work, then workers will have to start removing cargo to lessen the ship’s weight and get it moving again.
He cautioned that rescue efforts could take some time because this is the largest ship to have ever gone aground there, and that the disruption could have ‘huge ramifications for global trade’.
On average, approximately 50 cargo vessels a day use the canal and it is one of the world’s most-important shipping lanes, linking Asia with Europe.
Julianne Cona, who is stuck onboard the US-registered Maersk Denver – which is stuck behind the Ever Given – wrote on Instagram: ‘Ship in front of us ran aground while going through the canal and is now stuck sideways looks like we might be here for a little bit.’
The canal was closed for several months after the 1956 Suez crisis and again in 1967 for eight years following the Six- Day war.
In February 2019 the Suez Canal Authority announced 75 massive cargo vessels transited the waterway carrying 5.8 million ton on a single day.
Officials on February 6, were able to guide 40 vessels from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean while 35 ships went south.
The Suez Canal is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, connecting Europe with the Far East
Why is the Suez Canal so important?
The Suez canal, which is around 120 miles long links the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean and is the shortest shipping route between the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean.
Before the canal, shipping from Europe either had to go overland or risk going around Cape Horn and the South Atlantic.
In April 1859, construction of the canal officially begins, much of the work financed by France.
It was opened for navigation on November 17, 1869 for vessels from all countries, although the British government later wanted to have an armed force in the area to protect shipping interests having picked up a 44 per cent stake in the canal in 1875.
The Suez Canal links the Red Sea and the Mediterranean providing a short cut from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic
From then, while nominally owned by Egypt, the canal was run by Britain and France until its until its nationalisation in 1956 .
The nationalisation by Nasser saw Britain and France launched an abortive and humiliating bid to recapture the vital waterway.
The canal was shut briefly following the attempted invasion.
However, in 1967 the canal was shut for eight years following the Six Day war with Israel.
Due to the instability in the region, the canal remained closed until 1975 – its longest ever closure, as the waterway had been mined and some vessels had been sunk in the main channel.
The Suez Canal is actually the first canal that directly links the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
In 2015 a new section of the canal opened, allowing vessels to traverse the waterway in both directions at the same time.
Future plans will see the two-lane system extended across the entire network- doubling current capacity of the canal.
The largest cargo vessels pay more than £180,000 in tolls to traverse the canal.
On average about 40-50 cargo vessels use the canal on a daily basis in a trip that takes around 11 hours, as speed along the waterway is limited to about 9kts to prevent the banks of the canal getting washed away.
Along the canal there are emergency mooring slots so vessels can pull over if they are suffering a mechanical issue.
When the canal first opened, the channel was approximately 26 feet deep and 72 feet wide at the bottom. The surface was between 200 and 300 feet wide to allow ships to pass.
By the 1960s, dredging of the canal increased the depth to 40 feet and widened the waterway to allow larger vessels.
Now, the minimum depth of the canal is 66feet, though this is been increased to 72 feet – allowing even larger vessels.
What was the Suez Crisis
The 1956 Suez Crisis was prompted by Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser who decided to nationalise the Suez Canal, which had been controlled for around a century by France and Britain.
Israel used the instability to invade Egypt and move towards the strategically important canal.
Britain and France sent troops to recapture the canal – claiming they wanted to return stability to the region – but in reality they wanted to force the collapse of Nasser’s government and regain strategic control of the waterway.
The humiliation of the Suez crisis prompted Prime Minister Anthony Eden, pictured here in 1955 to resign after Britain was forced to withdraw from Egypt having lost the support of the United States
However, the United States refused to back Britain and France’s action, forcing them to withdraw after the Egyptians were backed by the Soviet Union.
America threatened economic sanctions against Britain, France and Israel, forcing their withdrawal and their replacement by UN peacekeepers.
The humiliation prompted the resignation of British Prime Minister Anthony Eden
