The Suez Canal Setback

The most memed news event this week has been the closure of the Suez Canal, one of the world’s most important artificial sea-level waterways, due to being blocked by a large container vessel, the MV Ever Given, on March 23rd. Marine traffic in one of the world’s busiest waterways remained halted, and the blockage led to a long queue of vessels waiting to cross the canal.

The 400m long MV Ever Given had been struck by a sandstorm and strong winds, with the added technical and human errors, and was knocked off its course. The ship ran aground on one of the canal's banks and turned 30 degrees, with its other end almost touching the other side of the canal, causing an obstruction and preventing other vessels from passing through.

The ship is owned by Evergreen Marine Corp, a Taiwanese container transportation and shipping company, and was travelling from Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia to Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The Suez Canal carries over 12% of world trade by volume and is a major source of income for Egypt’s economy, earning $5.61 billion in revenues in 2020. Around one million barrels of oil and roughly 8% of liquefied natural gas pass through the canal each day.

The alternative route around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa can take up to two weeks longer, and transporting goods via air freight can cost three times more. Around 370 ships have been stalled as they wait for the Canal to reopen.

‘Lloyd's List’ estimates the value of the goods delayed each hour at $400 million, and that every day it takes to clear the obstruction will disrupt an additional $9 billion worth of goods. Consultants predict that this short-term disruption would have a domino effect for several months along the supply chain as well.

Attempts to dislodge the ship since Tuesday have finally proved fruitful as Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chief Osama Rabie states "The position of the ship has been reorientated 80% in the right direction," and that rescue efforts with tugs had succeeded in shifting the front and back of the ship.

Efforts to move the boat would resume at 11:30 local time (09:30 GMT/ 15:00 IST) once the tide rises, officials said.

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