"Ever Given" Container Ship in Suez Canal

[MichaelB]

Yes, the ship has been freed. Here's a video in a Tweet as proof.

Looks like someone did a sea section.

 

[sengsational]

The first I heard of the blockage was this thread, a few minutes ago. Now it's unblocked by sea section Life is good.

 

[dixter]

for some reason the boat is in the Great Bitter Lake going around in circles... may be the driver is knocking off some of the mud stuck on the bottom of the boat or she is just showing the harbor master she knows how to park a boat that size... it don't look good either way...

 

[easysurfer]

Toilet paper prices still on the rise despite ship freed.

Glad my TP stock arrived the other day .

 

[dixter]

lots of dry leaves in the yard this time of year...

 

[JoeWras]

Poison oak leaves?

 

[dixter]

here is the explanation on what actually happen'd... he seems to know

 

[JoeWras]

here is the explanation on what actually happen'd... he seems to know

Watched the video. Here's my landlubber summary: they over-corrected.

His video animation looked very much like the "idiots in cars" videos most of us have seen where some sports car is caught on dash cam losing traction on its rear end, then the car wavers back and forth until finally grabbing in a direction that is at about 45 degrees off the center of the road, thus plunging the car into the ditch or across the median.

In this case, the slippage was due to wind and got worse until finally they rammed straight into the bank.

It isn't the same as a car. A better analogy might be to what happens with an airplane in high cross-winds.

 

[dixter]

In the old days before the ships got too big they would use mules on each side and pull the boats thru the canal... its still just a large ditch dug out of the desert... not much leeway for errors

 

[Gumby]

I have conned a submarine (surfaced) through the Panama Canal twice. Even though we had a pilot on board who was an expert in the canal transit, the captain was looking over my shoulder, and my boat was only 1/3 the length, 1/5 the beam and 5% of the tonnage of the Ever Given, it was still a nerve-wracking experience. That fellow in the video is quite right - they should have waited for better conditions.

FYI - the Ever Given exceeds the size limit for the Panama Canal.

 

[Brat]

This incident may bankrupt Evergreen, the shipping company. The Canal operators can 'arrest' the ship for the costs. Maritime/Admiralty law goes back to Roman and Byzantine legal codes.

I just watched the YouTube video. IMHO this boat is too large for that waterway.

 

[ls99]

Spreading the [-]wealth[/-] debt, the ship's owner declared "General Average".

The time frame for assessing all claims and liabilities will take time. The cargo will not be released for a long time.
https://gcaptain.com/shipowner-declares-general-average-for-ever-given/

"

General Average is a principle of maritime law that requires that the shipowner and its customers share a proportionate amount of the costs associated with saving a vessel after a major casualty. When General Average is declared, cargo owners are required to contribute to a GA fund before cargo can be released.
​

While the backlog of vessels waiting to transit Suez is now expected to be cleared over the next couple of days, shippers and freight forwarders with cargo on the Ever Given could be in for a long wait for it to be released.
The problem for cargo interests, according to insurance sources, is that the cost of the casualty to its owners is likely to take some time to determine, if it involves claims from other parties, which means the adjustors will remain unable to fix the level of the general average and salvage securities."

 

[Koolau]

its still just a large ditch dug out of the desert...

I recall (as about a 10 year old) the closing of the Suez Canal in 1956/1957 (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Crisis). Compared to the current closure, that was a really big deal, though I'm assuming the daily tonnage of shipping today is much greater than it was at the time. The geopolitical fallout is still felt today.

When I saw Lawrence of Arabia back ca. 1962, the memory that most stuck with me was when T. E. Lawrence and his young companion had struck out across the vast desert and eventually heard the sound of an ocean going vessel's horn. The next scene showed a ship seemingly floating through the desert.

Yes, parts of the canal are no more than a ditch in the desert. Very impressive considering it opened shortly after the end of the American Civil War. YMMV

 

[NW-Bound]

The stuck ship "Ever Given" is not let go until its owner pays for losses and damages.

The compensation amount has not been finalized, but is said to be around US$1 billion.

Total economic losses may be that high, but is any of the money going to the other ships whose passage through the canal was held up, or rather to the owners of the shipped goods that was delayed? How can they determine all that?

Or is it all going to the canal operator?

It's not simple.

See: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/new...-caused/ar-BB1fwEdw?ocid=finance-verthp-feeds

 

[Sunset]

Spreading the [-]wealth[/-] debt, the ship's owner declared "General Average".

The time frame for assessing all claims and liabilities will take time. The cargo will not be released for a long time.
https://gcaptain.com/shipowner-declares-general-average-for-ever-given/

"

General Average is a principle of maritime law that requires that the shipowner and its customers share a proportionate amount of the costs associated with saving a vessel after a major casualty. When General Average is declared, cargo owners are required to contribute to a GA fund before cargo can be released.
​

While the backlog of vessels waiting to transit Suez is now expected to be cleared over the next couple of days, shippers and freight forwarders with cargo on the Ever Given could be in for a long wait for it to be released.
The problem for cargo interests, according to insurance sources, is that the cost of the casualty to its owners is likely to take some time to determine, if it involves claims from other parties, which means the adjustors will remain unable to fix the level of the general average and salvage securities."

I think some companies are in for some hurt...
I imagine the companies shipping low value stuff like TP and flour, will be happy to abandon their containers, leaving the high value containers of laptops, auto computer chips to pay a higher proportion of the cost