2021 Suez Canal obstruction

2021 Suez Canal obstruction

Satellite image of Ever Given blocking the canal on 24 March 2021
Date	23 March 2021 (2021-03-23)–present; 3 years, 4 months, 5 days and 13 hours
Time	07:40 EST (05:40 UTC)
Location	Suez Canal, Egypt
Coordinates	30.0175°N 32.5800°E / 30.0175; 32.5800
Type	Ship grounding
Cause	Sandstorm, high winds
Non-fatal injuries	0

On 23 March 2021 at 07:40 EST (UTC+2), Ever Given, a Golden-class container ship, ran aground in the Suez Canal in Egypt. The 400-metre-long (1,300 ft) vessel had been buffeted by a sandstorm and strong winds of up to 74 kilometres per hour (40 knots; 46 miles per hour), knocking it off course. The ship ran aground on one of the canal's banks and became stuck, completely obstructing the canal and preventing any vessels from passing through.

By the day after the grounding, at least 15 other vessels were being held at anchorages and at least 237 ships were queueing to pass through the canal while the situation is being resolved. As of 26 March 2021, the vessel is still stuck in the canal. The obstruction is well south of the section of the canal that has two channels, so there is no way for other ships to bypass Ever Given.

Background

The Suez Canal was opened in 1869, and is one of the most important trading routes in the world. Maritime transport specialist Camille Egloff of the Boston Consulting Group noted that all traffic arriving from Asia on departure for Europe and the Americas goes through the Suez Canal, making it an "absolutely critical" passage. Approximately fifty ships per day travel through the canal. About 10 percent of total global trade moves through the 193 km (104 nmi) long Canal. For much of its length, however, the canal is not wide enough to allow traffic to travel in both directions at once; convoys of ships must take turns transiting these segments of the waterway. While an expansion project has been constructed, it is only partial, and significant portions of the canal remain single-lane.

In the years prior to the incident, numerous ships had run aground in the Suez Canal. On 25 February 2016, the bulk carrier New Katerina ran aground in the canal while travelling from Ukraine to Qingdao. New Katerina was refloated after twelve days; traffic in the canal was not affected during this period. On 28 April 2016, the container ship MSC Fabiola ran aground at Great Bitter Lake after experiencing engine problems, forcing canal officials to temporarily suspend all northbound convoys and stop all southbound ones in the canal. MSC Fabiola was refloated on 30 April, and continued through the canal. On 17 July 2018, the container ship Aeneas ran aground in the canal, resulting in a collision involving the three bulker carriers behind it: Sakizaya Kalon, Panamax Alexander, and Osios David.

Bill Kavanagh, a National Maritime College of Ireland lecturer and former captain, has described sailing through the Suez Canal as "a very complex and high risk operation" where a gust of wind against the shipping containers "will act like a sail", which in a ship as heavy as Ever Given will build up a momentum creating a movement that is difficult to stop. The government of Egypt requires a ship traversing the canal to be boarded by an Egyptian "Suez crew", including one or more official maritime pilots from Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) who commands the ship, taking over from the regular crew. There were two Egyptian SCA pilots on board at the time of the accident.

Ever Given is a Golden-class container ship, one of the largest container ships in the world, and tied with other Golden-class ships as the largest that Evergreen operates (at the time of the incident). The ship was laid down on 25 December 2015, launched 9 May 2018, and completed 25 September 2018; the owner is Shoei Kisen Kaisha, a subsidiary of Japan's Imabari Shipbuilding, and the operator is the Taiwan-based company Evergreen Marine. The vessel is registered in Panama. All crew were Indian nationals.

Incident

Ever Given in March 2020

At the time of the incident, Ever Given was travelling from Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia, to Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was fifth in a northbound convoy, with fifteen vessels behind it when it ran aground.

On 23 March 2021, at 07:40 EST (UTC+2), Ever Given was traveling through the Suez Canal when it was caught in a sandstorm. The strong wind, which reached 74 km/h (40 knots), resulted in the "loss of the ability to steer the ship", causing the hull to deviate. Ever Given then ran aground at the 151 km (82 nmi) mark (measured from Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea; 10 km (5.4 nmi) from Suez Port on the Gulf of Suez), and turned sideways unable to free itself, blocking the canal on both sides. The crew of the Ever Given, comprised entirely of Indian nationals, was accounted for, and no injuries were reported.

Over 200 vessels at both ends of the canal were obstructed by Ever Given, including five other container ships of similar size. These include 41 bulk carriers and 24 crude tankers. The affected vessels represented roughly 16.9 million tonnes of deadweight. Some docked at ports and anchorages in the area, while many remained in place. The ships in the area range from small cargo vessels to large ships, including the Russian Navy Altay-class oiler Kola, which had been involved in a minor collision with bulk carrier Ark Royal earlier that day.

Response

Officials plan to move two vessels from behind Ever Given to make room for the refloating operation. Fuel, ballast water, and several containers were removed from the ship to help lighten it as heavy machinery, including an excavator, worked to dig the bow out. Eight tugboats are assisting in the attempt to pull it free. Peter Berdowski, Chief Executive of Royal Boskalis Westminster, stated that the operation "can take days to weeks."

On 25 March, the Suez Canal Authority suspended navigation through the Suez Canal until Ever Given could be refloated. The same day, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's advisor on seaports stated that he expected the canal to be cleared in "48–72 hours, maximum." The following day, the Suez Canal Authority said that its dredging operations were about 87 percent complete.

On 26 March, the Canal Authority accepted an offer made by a United States Navy assessment team of dredging experts to assist in efforts to remove the ship.

Economic impact

Traffic jam in the Gulf of Suez caused by the obstruction as seen by the Sentinel-1 satellite

Experts have warned that this incident will likely result in shipping delays of everyday items for customers around the world. Maritime historian Sal Mercogliano told the Associated Press, "Every day the canal is closed ... container ships and tankers are not delivering food, fuel and manufactured goods to Europe and goods are not being exported from Europe to the Far East." Lloyd's List estimates the blockage delay cost at US$400 million per hour, and that every day it takes to clear the obstruction will disrupt an additional US$9 billion worth of goods.

Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research, attributed a rise in oil prices to "people buying in after recent declines in oil prices, with the Suez closing the trigger factor", and James Williams, energy economist at WTRG Economics said that due to existing stocks "a few days of slowdown in [oil] delivery is not critical to the market". The event will only delay goods, which might only impact industries with existing shortages such as with semiconductors. To mitigate shortages of goods in the long term, future shipments can be ordered earlier than normal until the difference has been made up. However, a consultant at another firm noted that even a short-term disruption at the Suez Canal would have a domino effect for several months along the supply chain.

The default alternative route for maritime traffic between Asia and Europe is around the African continent, a trip of some 9,000 km (4,900 nmi) taking approximately 10 days. By 26 March some ships were already being re-routed around the Cape of Good Hope, facing an extra 6,100 km (3,300 nmi) and up to 12 days extra sailing time, according to the International Chamber of Shipping. Russia has used this incident to promote its Arctic shipping routes as a shorter alternative to carrying goods around Africa.

Concerns about piracy, due to the unprecedented concentration of valuable shipping in such a small area, has prompted shipping companies to make inquiries to the Bahrain-based United States Fifth Fleet about security.

See also

• Yellow Fleet, a group of fifteen ships trapped in the Suez Canal, from 1967 to 1975, as a result of the Israel–Egypt Six-Day War
• 21st Century Maritime Silk Road – Sea route part
• Bank Effect

External links

• Live global map of marine traffic