Suez canal

[Mickwhitt 4,642]

I see a bit of an opportunity here guys....

Any of you with time to spare and plenty of sun tan lotion could hop over to Egypt and give em a hand getting this bad boy out.

Should be pretty easy, its only sand and with enough Horses she would pull right out; only weighs 200,000 tons. We could name our price!

Plus, let Dan gerous know that there will be a sea captain putting his resume out there so he better look after his job. "Position Wanted, experienced cargo captain (and lookout) looking for work, happy to travel and drive your ship. Only one minor bump in 20 years of service"

Mick 

[pfrederi 17,741]

To paraphrase  Roy Scheider in Jaws    "I think they need a bigger excavator"

[Pullstart 62,912]

Pax. 51 ships per day are being backed up and I heard on the radio (which has to be true!) that each vessel pays $750,000 per trip through the canal!  What a mess... with weeks of projected stoppage!

[Mickwhitt 4,642]

He picked one hell of a place to try a three point turn! 

[Pullstart 62,912]

Captain claims a sand storm was to blame.  Given the geography there...  Is that like saying my boat got wet because there were waves in the ocean?

[Mickwhitt 4,642]

Many years ago the wife and I did a narrow boat trip over a weekend. 

Never crewed anything bigger than the little tub on a boating lake. 

And she presents me with a 60 foot long barge where you stand at the back to try and steer!

I did the same thing as this guy, but I was trying to turn it round in something called a winding hole. 

As I sweated and swore trying to push the thing out of the bank (who knew what a barge pole was for) a wise ass walking along the tow path quipped "The canal goes the other way mate" 

I hate boats (Ships, sloops, subs, sailing dinghies etc al).

Mick 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,642]

All joking aside this is a pretty big deal. 

Like Kev said there are ships backing up both ends of the canal. With the alternative being a two week jaunt round the bottom of Africa the pressure is on to get this thing moved pronto.

Its sitting on the bottom both front and back (OK bow and stern or forard and aft whatever nautical term floats your boat  (see what i did there?)) And as we all keep saying about our horses Weight is everything when it comes to traction. So with 200,000 tons sitting on its fat ass pulling it does not seem to be an option. 

Unloading it is more than a walk in the park too. First off where are you going to park your crane in the desert? And where are you going to put the containers when you get them off? And what if it breaks in two while you are trying to figure out which containers to lift off?

I think we will be watching this for some time my friends. 

Mick 

[Pullstart 62,912]

I showed the girls at lunch time.  This is a major current event... the canal hasn’t been closed since what, ‘67?  Rylee’s first reaction was “unload it” then we discussed the challenge that would also create.  There is no nearby port.  No nearby empty vessels to load onto.  No foundation for such massive cranes needed.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

1 hour ago, Mickwhitt said:

I see a bit of an opportunity here guys....

Any of you with time to spare and plenty of sun tan lotion could hop over to Egypt and give em a hand getting this bad boy out.

Should be pretty easy, its only sand and with enough Horses she would pull right out; only weighs 200,000 tons. We could name our price!

Plus, let Dan gerous know that there will be a sea captain putting his resume out there so he better look after his job. "Position Wanted, experienced cargo captain (and lookout) looking for work, happy to travel and drive your ship. Only one minor bump in 20 years of service"

Mick 

We don't want him! One of ours bumped the bottom a while ago and decided to retire early rather than discuss what went wrong.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

Just now, pullstart said:

I showed the girls at lunch time.  This is a major current event... the canal hasn’t been closed since what, ‘67?  Rylee’s first reaction was “unload it” then we discussed the challenge that would also create.  There is no nearby port.  No nearby empty vessels to load onto.  No foundation for such massive cranes needed.

That's usually the answer, they can bring in barges and use a jackup crane - a barge that can lift itself out of the water. Lots of options available, people make a career out of this sort of stuff.

[pfrederi 17,741]

Don't bother with all that just call in Jamie Davis from Highway through Hell  Because Closure is not an option

Edited March 25, 2021 by pfrederi

[squonk 41,155]

Drop a missile or 2 on it and get it the heck out of the way! 

[JoeM 7,874]

No worries, flo from progressive got r insured!

 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,642]

Looks more likely they will be unloading her in the desert. Two attempts at high tide failed and Sunday is the best chance with tide levels.

So many ships queueing up hoping it will be moved soon. 

Where is the nation that built the pyramids? A few rollers and you woukd think they would get it done. 

[Handy Don 12,237]

I'm thinking that's a heck of a lot of mass that was moving along pretty briskly with a "bulb" bow and a 50 foot draft. I'm sure it stuck itself deeply into the bank and then the stern swung around and wedged itself with the remains of the momentum.

The rollers are a good idea, but I suspect this thing weighs as much as an entire pyramid!

[Mickwhitt 4,642]

Its twice as long as the base of the great pyramid but a teeny thing in terms of mass. 6.5 million tons for the big pile of bricks. 

Was the canal not properly dredged at the edges?

[Stormin 9,981]

Can't use rollers. The slaves would drown.

[Farmer_John 30]

@Mickwhitt  In post #4, why are there farms on one side of the canal and desert on the other?

 

[Mickwhitt 4,642]

Not sure, the desert does grow stuff out there, otherwise Egypt would never have been able to support the empire that built the pyramids etc. 

Unloading that ship is still going to be a big job if its farm land.

 

[Handy Don 12,237]

3 hours ago, Mickwhitt said:

Its twice as long as the base of the great pyramid but a teeny thing in terms of mass. 6.5 million tons for the big pile of bricks. 

Was the canal not properly dredged at the edges?

Yeah, big piles of rocks are pretty heavy!

And yeah, OSHA would not like seeing drowning slaves!

That ship holds 20,000 containers. Empty weigh of a 40' container is 4 tons and max gross weight ~33 tons. Say an average of 20 tons each for easy math? A mere 400,000 tons for cargo. Even if the ship itself is a million tons, that's still only a fraction of the great pyramid.

The canal is properly dredged, according to what I've read so far. I suspect we'll find out over time that: a) this is one of the largest ships allowed in the canal so it had a minimum margin for error, and b) the ship wasn't properly piloted and ran out of the channel (early thinking of a mechanical or system failure have been discarded already).

Even a mere 1.4 million tons moving at 10 knots apparently can make a nifty gouge in a rock-lined ditch in sandy soil.  Wonder if the crew got whiplash? 

 

Adding a note: just read that the ship itself only weighs 200,000 tons

 

Edited March 27, 2021 by Handy Don

[tom2p 2,394]

 

 

Edited March 27, 2021 by tom2p

[tom2p 2,394]

related to the ship's captain ?

 

Edited March 27, 2021 by tom2p

[Mickwhitt 4,642]

Looks like the stern has come loose from the bank, so it should be easier to remove now.

 

It was a bit concerning to read that it had stopped water flowing underneath it when it was aground,  surely that shows the safety margins are pretty tight?

 

Maybe it was just too big for the canal.

 

We will see what the investigation brings, but the Egyptians were hedging their bets saying it was probably human failings that were the biggest factor, not our lovely canal. 

 

 

[Handy Don 12,237]

3 hours ago, Mickwhitt said:

Looks like the stern has come loose from the bank, so it should be easier to remove now.

 

It was a bit concerning to read that it had stopped water flowing underneath it when it was aground,  surely that shows the safety margins are pretty tight?

 

Maybe it was just too big for the canal.

 

We will see what the investigation brings, but the Egyptians were hedging their bets saying it was probably human failings that were the biggest factor, not our lovely canal. 

 

 

I read in one article that with the ship across the channel, there was only 5 feet of water under it. Considering that the canal is tidal, that isn't a lot.

Methinks some of those monster ships will have new rules for transiting the canal in future.

[AMC RULES 37,130]