Suez Canal blocked by container ship 36

[verymadmac]

It might not be an engineering issue that started it, but I bet is going to change a few specifications.
BBC piece here Link



It looks like the bow is hard aground, refloating will be an interesting exercise given the time pressure.



Canal profile is here

https://www.suezcanal.gov.eg/English/About/SuezCanal/Pages/CanalCharacteristics.aspx

 

[1503-44]

I did suggest a nuclear option, but not seriously.

The ship's black box is reportedly on the way to be analyzed by US NTSB.

 

[verymadmac]

I have a military mind. Sadly the moment I saw that gigantic container ship stuck sideways, all I could think-of was the likely on-set of a catastrophic sabotage plot.

I could visualize a single jet dropping 2-#2000 bombs mid-ship... or heavy cruise-missiles or anti-ship missiles... screaming-in and blasting the ship in-half or thirds. Based on current experience, cleaning-out the debris [containers] and cutting-up the ship would take at least 4-years. Something like this might even require re-routing [digging] the canal AROUND the blockage and closing that section off indefinitely.

This should be a wake-up call for every major and minor country that relies on canals or waterways or bays [with necked entry water-ways] for an economic lifeline... and have giant container/cargo ships passing each other.

Why use explosives that requires a degree of air superiority and is relatively overt, a software hack might not be. A software hack did cross my mind when it a first appeared to be an uncommanded turn. At a guess if all the systems are centrally computer control one could have made it rollover and ground at the same time (one big bit could be harder to remove than lots of little bits). Just think of all those vessels built in the PRC.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

The rock was compacted sand which would brake up if you soaked it in water for a day. It would break up in lumps but if you worked it with your hands it would turn into sand again.

The tug with the RE bar instead of a shear pin is a hook puller not a bollard pull. Its so they don't need anyone to catch the hawsers they just lower the hawser down into the hook jaw mouth and then it gets hydraulically closed then when they want to drop it they open the jaw and its released. The salvage guys like them apparently because if things get exciting they can hit the release and get out the way quickly

 

[RedSnake]

So then it is more likely that the keel hade cut into the sandstone, as when you fasten an ax in a chopping block. ;-)
And to get it loos it was more like, trying to unscrew a loctited screw with an oversized screwdriver until the groove in the screw was broken?

Best Regards A

“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.“
Albert Einstein

 

[bones206]

I heard with the polar ice cap melting, a new northern route may open up that is shorter than using the Suez. Perhaps we just wait. Shouldn't be much longer now...

Seems Russia smelled a marketing opportunity and is promoting the Northern Sea Route as THE alternative to the Suez. It's not hard to envision the geopolitical implications of a major shipping route controlled by Russia, let alone the impact to the environment. It seems to me that Russia is the big winner out of all this - besides The Dane of course

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...6f6794-9097-11eb-aadc-af78701a30ca_story.html

MOSCOW — Russian officials are seizing on the Suez Canal blockage saga to promote its Northern Sea Route, an ambitious infrastructure plan being pushed by President Vladimir Putin that aims to capitalize on the polar ice melt from global warming by opening up Arctic shipping and development.

Russia’s Energy Ministry said Monday that the days-long blockage of the canal by Rotterdam-bound Ever Given — a drama that is finally winding down as the ship began moving again — showed that its Northern Sea Route (NSR) and gas and oil pipelines were reliable, secure and competitive “in comparison to alternative routes.”
...
As Suez traffic choked to a halt last week, Russian officials were busy promoting the NSR.

Nikolai Korchunov, Russia’s envoy for international cooperation in the Arctic, said Friday that the Suez Canal blockage should press the world to look at the NSR as an alternative.

“The incident in the Suez Canal should make everyone think about diversifying strategic sea routes amid the increasing scope of sea shipping,” he said. Korchunov added that there was “no alternative” to the NSR.

In 2018, Putin decreed that cargo traffic along the route should be sharply increased — to 80 million tons by 2024. Cargo volumes reached 30 million tons by the end of 2019 and 32 million tons last year, according to the state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

 

[1503-44]

That might work for the East Asia / Atlantic/EU trade, but the Northwest Passage looks better for East Asia / North America. Not going to do much for any other routes, No way will it replace Persian Gulf / EU/India/Africa routes.. There have been investors looking at building a port in Hudson Bay for years now, in anticipation of more ice free waters.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

https://youtu.be/oWF7A9Ujr3w

Seems they have just ordered another 20 of these ships.

 

[LittleInch]

If you look back at the survey drawing tug posted on the 27th March, it seems this section of the canal has the main channel offset to the west, but there are several what appear to be deep cone shaped sections where my guess is the suction dredgers have been able to suck out sand and loose gravel etc, but left a number of what might be harder sandstone or maybe even just clay and sand pillars which had been mentioned.

These vessels are essentially flat bottomed so it would appear that the vessel rode over one of the humps and didn't stop until the nose ran into the bank.

Then with the nose now out of the water by a number of metres you have a large area of softish sand / clay / soft rock underneath the vessel some distance from the bow stopping it moving due the huge weight of the vessel and its cargo.

So excavating some of the material helped, but in the main the rear shift sideways pivoting the vessel on this harder lump was the key, a bit of rear ballast apparently once the rear got free, but not enough to snap it, and then a high tide and some associated higher currents and some almighty ocean going tugs and off it slid.

Will be interesting to see if the bow thrusters were operational.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[LittleInch]

Interesting interview with the Boskalis CEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW7TLcs5XXQ

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

By all accounts on these big boats the thrusters are pretty much useless at anything over 0.5 knts. And even then if the wind is coming from the wrong direction the boat will be blown sideways and they won't stop it.

 

[TugboatEng]

Allistair, the unique feature of an anchor handling winch is having multiple drums on the winch. One drum to haul the anchor and one drum to tow the oil rig. This rebar story is bogus. All towing gear is high strength steel (improved or extra improved plow steel) which rebar is not.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

this isn't a winch its a bloody great hook Its on the tug not the boat. It slides around 180 degs left to right on a track. The salvage master can dump the hawser under full load with no input from the vessel being salvaged. Press a button and bang and its gone.

It looks like this but about 5 times bigger.

And a promo video of the concept.

https://youtu.be/P7Rgm-XjOf0

 

[dik]

Not much different than the ones already in existance... politics ofter softens when there's a buck to be made.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

it also hardens up as well when LPG exports are concerned. AKA Nordstream 2 is stirring up again as it get nearer to completion.

 

[1503-44]

Nordstream II has been 95% complete, but dead in the water for over a year. Work stopped when USA authorised use of sanctions on all companies participating in any way on the project, even the German harbor that some of the previous contractors were using to support their operations. Only some 100km remain to be completed. The USA sat by doing nothing, except spouting the usual threat of sanctions, while Russia moved into Ukraine, then all of a sudden, and entirely coincidently I'm sure, with the advent of US LNG export capacity, sanctions became imperative and all work stopped.

 

[bones206]

Here's an article written a few days before the ship got stuck, for anyone interested: Geopolitical Implications of New Arctic Shipping Lanes

I'm also halfway through the book "2034:A Novel of the Next World War", so my worldview is a bit paranoid at the moment!

 

[1503-44]

I'm sure you will find some interesting reading here, esp if you like paranoid adventures.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=geopolitical+pipelines&t=brave&ia=web

 

[dik]

bones... good article.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[zeusfaber]

This should be a wake-up call for every major and minor country that relies on canals or waterways or bays [with necked entry water-ways] for an economic lifeline...

Believe me, it's been on the agenda for a very long time. A lot of time, effort, money, political will and cooperative military effort goes into ensuring freedom of passage through, for instance, Hormuz and the Bab al Mendeb.

A.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

I thought there is a russian pipe laying barge finishing it?

There is definitely something in the area working.


Use the AIS tracking and search for Fortuna russian registered.