How a massive 200,000-tonne ship got stuck in Suez Canal leading to major trade crisis?

Shipping losses have piled up as massive Panama-flagged cargo ship weighing 200,000 tons become wedged across Egypt’s Suez Canal and blocked all the traffic in one of the world’s busiest and vital waterways. As per reports, about 12% of global trade passes through the artificial canal that connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea providing the shortest sea link between Asia and Europe. 

Several dozens of ships are currently waiting at the waterway for the Suez Canal Authorities to free the 400-metre-long ship, Ever Given which is operated by the shipping company Evergreen and was set to reach the port city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands from China. The ship has a 25-member crew which the management company said was safe and accounted for. Shoei Kisen Kaisha said all the crew came from India.

How did a 200,000-tonne ship got stuck?

The Suez Canal was originally engineered to handle much smaller vessels than the beached vessel, Ever Given which is one of the world’s largest container ship. As per the New York Times report, the 200,000-tonne ship is about the length of the Empire State Building. But, the channels of the waterway have been widened and deepened several times.

However, poor visibility and high winds made Ever Given’s piled up containers act like sails and are reportedly believed to have pushed the massive ship off the course, eventually leading to its grounding on March 23. The ship ran aground and become lodged sideways across the waterway on March 25 morning leaving other ships trapped on either side. 

It was not immediately clear what caused the giant container ship to become wedged on Tuesday morning but a global shipping and logistics company GAC reportedly said that the ship had experienced a blackout. 

However, GAC did not elaborate and Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, which manages the Ever Given denies that ship ever lost power. Major Taiwan-based shipping company, evergreen Marine Corp. that operates the ship said in a statement that Ever Given was overpowered by strong winds when it entered the canal from the Red Sea. None of the containers of the giant ship sunk. 

How strong were the winds?

An Egyptian official, who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity also blamed the strong winds that led to the ship being stuck in the Suez Canal resulting in one of the worst maritime traffic jams. Egyptian forecasters reportedly said that high winds and sandstorm had roiled the area on March 23 and the winds were gusting as much as 50kph or 30 mph. Despite the aggressive winds, it is still not fully clear how it alone pushed a fully laden vessel weighing nearly 200,000 tons.

Is it Ever Given’s only crash?

The March 23 incident marked the second major crash involving the Ever Given in recent years. Earlier in 2019, the cargo ship had run into a small ferry on the Elbe River in the German port city of Hamburg. At the time, the authorities had also blamed the strong wind for the collision and it severely damaged the ferry.

How are authorities managing crisis?

The unprecedented crisis caused by Ever Given stuck in the Suez Canal has led to SCA ‘temporarily suspending navigation’ through one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes until the grounded container vessel MV Ever Given is refloated. Several methods have already been tried including pulling the massive Evergreen-operated container vessel with tugboats, dredging underneath the hull and using a front-end loader to excavate the eastern embankment, where the bow is stuck.

However, as of Thursday night, as per the NYT report, the weight and length of Ever Given have ‘frustrated’ the salvagers. The closure of the waterway opened in 1869, could affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Mideast, which rely on the canal to avoid sailing around Africa. 

Several marine salvage experts have said that nature might cause the ship to afloat as all other methods have failed. A seasonal high tide on March 28 or 29 could add around 18 inches of depth to the canal. TradeWinds, a maritime industry news publication said that over 100 ships are waiting to traverse the canal and it could take over a week for the backlog to clear out. 

Image credits: AP