The Suez Canal is blocked

[ncc1701e]

It's funny because i expected the canal to be a little wider than that. Never seen it in real life. Is the Panama canal bigger?

[RFalvo69]

ORIGINAL: Platoonist
I keep going back to thinking: how can this have been allowed to happen? After all, we're all now seeing the very serious repercussions of it having happened. Any competent risk assessment should, long ago, have implemented mechanisms to minimize to near-zero the chance of this sort of occurrence, plus it should have put in place effective provisions to fix things if it did somehow happen.

I'm re-reading, of all things, "World War Z" by Max Brooks, and just today I stumbled into the following passage:

"Most people don’t believe something can happen until it already has. That’s not stupidity or weakness, that’s just human nature."

While it is referred to the zombie apocalypse, this sentence is spoken by a fictional Israeli character as a general commentary on human nature. I think that he is right.

[Lobster]

From the west locks called Pedro Miguel to the first lake/river it's about the same. Then on the east end for a short distance the same again. But more of the Panama Canal is lake than the Suez. It's not nearly as long either I don't think.

[Platoonist]

ORIGINAL: ncc1701e

It's funny because i expected the canal to be a little wider than that. Never seen it in real life. Is the Panama canal bigger?

When it opened, the Suez Canal was only 25 feet deep, 72 feet wide at the bottom, and 200 to 300 feet wide at the surface. Obviously, it's been widened a great deal since then.

[Platoonist]

Since 1956 it's really been a work in progress.

[ncc1701e]

Thanks, interesting. So, they will have to increase it once more it seems.

[gamer78]

ORIGINAL: SuluSea

That looks wild. I've been through the Suez Canal a few times.

I can remember in 1981 seeing destroyed armor along the way side but in 1983 it seemed much more tidy. Perhaps it was my viewing times Machinist's Mates don't get too much time topside.[;)]

The crew manning fire hoses to keep the locals off was always mandatory for smaller naval vessels...

Back in early 90's Turkish military attaché informed us while we're in Cairo about Sinai Arab&Israeli War tank ruins. -they were training Egyptian army- Back in those times internet was very slow not as today. Now everything can be found in internet very fast.

[uncc]

This article has an update. It shows this image:



which gives you an idea of just how stuck this ship is...

[RangerJoe]

It looks like they should dig out the stern but also keep it from moving while they lighten the load up front. Then pull it backwards to free it.

So considering the bottom it ran into, there is probably very little hull damage that would have to be repaired in a dry dock.

[Lobster]

They are concerned that unloading my cause the ship to become unstable and break in half. Wouldn't that be a mess! [:)]

But they have to do something.

[RangerJoe]

It would depend upon how they unload the cargo. Starting at the middle clearing that off would be a problem but if the load were taken off from all over, only one level at a time, that should help.

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: Platoonist

Might be time to take a cue from the Pixar movie Up.

Or maybe somebody has a really big toilet plunger?

[sPzAbt653]

Since it is stuck in the muck, a suction expert has done the math and determined that it would take 80 of the best tugs the world has to offer to pull it free. Since this is impossible to orchestrate, they went thru the other options and there really is nothing they can do, which is why they aren't doing anything.

It seems that the 200,000 ton weight of the problem is beyond current technology, so they will have to invent something.

[arvcran2]

ORIGINAL: uncc

This article has an update. It shows this image:



which gives you an idea of just how stuck this ship is...

Did not read the article, but I wonder what retains the canal floor; is it swept to clear sediment from blown sand and other things?

I agree with RJ on getting the screw and guide end free.

Other considerations are water current (assuming there is any), and wind.
Raising the water level (if there are locks to facilitate), could also help.

Would not want to be the captain of that ship.

Other than ground obstruction what would cause it to steer astray? Rudder control failure? Autopilot error? Computer systems hack? I honestly thought it was a "fake news" story.

Also curious to know what that violet 'Base Line' is all about.

[Lobster]

It was thought sand blown in was the main cause of the canal filling with sediment. Turns out it was the ships themselves. That was discovered during the several year shut down during the war. No locks on the Suez.

It has been reported that wind caused low visibility. To get a ship that big to turn takes forever. Once it started heading for the sand I imagine it was all over but the swearing.

[Lobster]

Here's the most recent from BBC.

It has been stranded since Tuesday, after running aground and becoming lodged sideways across the waterway. At first a gust of wind was thought to be to blame .

'Our customers are worried about the Suez blockage'
Extra tugs join effort to dislodge Suez Canal ship
How do you refloat a giant cargo ship?

The wind speed at the time was recorded at 40 knots, but the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) told reporters that this is not the only reason for the ship becoming stranded.

An investigation would be needed to determine whether technical or human errors occurred, the authority added.

As of Sunday, there were 369 ships stuck in a tailback waiting to pass through the 193km (120-mile) canal on either side of the blockage.

On Saturday, 14 tugboats pulled and pushed the Ever Given at high tide to try to dislodge it and were able to move the ship "30 degrees from left and right".

The SCA said in a statement that dredgers had so far shifted 27,000 cubic metres of sand, to a depth of 18m (59ft).

"The rudder was not moving and it is now moving, the propeller is working now, there was no water underneath the bow, and now there is water under it, and yesterday there was a 4m (13ft) deviation in the bow and the stern," SCA's chairman General Osama Rabie told Egyptian state TV.

However, in a possible complication, SCA sources quoted by Reuters news agency said that a mass of rock had been discovered under the bow of the ship.

Sunday's attempt to free the Ever Given was postponed - according to the SCA, the next favourable times for refloating the ship will be during high tide, at 11:42 local time (09:42 GMT) on Monday and early Tuesday morning at 00:08.

[RangerJoe]

Think of a semi-tractor and boxed trailer with a wind coming from the side. They can and will be blown over, they will get tired and lay on their side. All of those shipping containers will act like a sail and with them tightly packed, little air can flow through/around them.

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[ncc1701e]

hurry - my paper toilet stockpile is decreasing. [:D]

[Aurelian]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/29/africa/s ... index.html