(3 minutes read)
· A large cargo container ship has turned sideways and blocked all traffic in Egypt’s Suez Canal
· This has the potential to further disrupt a global shipping system, which is undergoing a harrowing trajectory thanks to the pandemic
· The ship that tilted sideways is the MV Ever Given, a Panama registered container ship that carries trade between Asia and Europe
A large cargo container ship has turned sideways and blocked all traffic in Egypt’s Suez Canal. This has the potential to further disrupt a global shipping system, which is undergoing a harrowing trajectory thanks to the pandemic.
The ship that tilted sideways is the MV Ever Given, a Panama registered container ship that carries trade between Asia and Europe. Suez Canal is a man-made waterway dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula. As to what was the reason for grounding of the ship is still not clear.
Evergreen Marine Corp is a Taiwan-based shipping company. A report says that the ship was caught in strong winds while it entered the Suez Canal from the Red Sea. But, the report says, adding that but none of its containers had sunk. There are reports that there was a strong wind gushing through the region at a speed of 50 kph (31 mph). The crew are safe and so far, there is no report about pollution because of the grounding of the cargo ship. Tugboats are trying to set right the ship’s position as revealed from the satellite data obtained from the region.
The Ever Given had listed its destination as Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The ship, built in 2018 with a length of nearly 400 meters (a quarter mile) and a width of 59 meters (193 feet). The ship can carry some 20,000 containers at a time. The man made Suez Canal provides a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo being shipped from East to West. It is estimated that 10% of the world’s trade flows through the Suez Canal waterways. The canal is a major source of income for Egypt as also a foreign exchange earner.
