Grounded ‘Mega Ship’ Blocking Suez Canal in Both Directions

[chrisr]

i am without personal knowledge of this specific case, however it is quite normal for ships to be arrested over alleged debts

i have been involved in 3 or 4...both as the 'arrestee' and the 'arrestor'. the pandi club will then post a bond and the ship will be released fm arrest & proceed while courts spend the next x number of years arguing about it

i am a tad surprised that this has not already happened but maybe the formal arrest was needed before bond could be put up ?

as regards sca getting to greedy about compensation etc, the UK club (pandi club for ever given) covers an awful lot of tonnage (abt 255 million i think). it would be interesting if the club reduced or removed cover for suez canal...a lot of owners would be forced to avoid the canal. if such was to spread to other clubs, all of a sudden the sca would be looking down the barrel of a big fall in revenue

just a thought...

cheers,

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by NaClyDog

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...-seized-egypt/


And there you have it... it has been seized by the Suez Canal Authority.

As others said, just a formality as it is a moving assert.
Also suprised it took this long as once the bond is placed in escrow the ship has to deliver its cargo.
Either there are technical issues with seaworthiness certificate or SCA is negotiating for an undisclosed settlement to cover costs that they would not win in court

[Montanan]

These new ship designs make transiting the Suez a tad more challenging.

[IslandHopper]

Nothing remotely normal about this whole process and certainly not a formality, thankfully the ship’s crew will now be able to return home to their families, hopefully at their next port call.....

By Associated Press
7:15pm Jul 5, 2021

After nearly 4 months an agreement has been reached to free the ship that still has most of it's original crew on board, the Suez Canal Authority today said it has reached an agreement to settle a financial dispute with the owners of a hulking container ship that blocked the crucial waterway for nearly a week earlier this year.

The authority did not reveal details on the settlement deal with the Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd, the Japanese owner of the Ever Given.

It said the deal will be signed in a ceremony in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia on Wednesday.

The vessel would also be freed Wednesday, it said.

The head of Egypt's Suez Canal Authority, Lieutenant General Osama Rabie, said last month the parties had agreed on a compensation amount.

But he said it would not be made public as they had signed a non-disclosure agreement until the signing of the final contract.

The vessel had run aground in the single-lane stretch of the canal on March 23 before it was extracted six days later after a massive salvage effort by a flotilla of tugboats.

Since it was freed, the Panama-flagged, Japanese-owned vessel, which carries cargo between Asia and Europe, has been ordered by authorities to remain in a holding lake mid-canal, along with most of its crew, as the two sides negotiated a settlement.

The disagreement had centered on the compensation amount the Suez Canal Authority is claiming for the salvage of the vessel.

The money would cover the salvage operation, costs of stalled canal traffic, and lost transit fees for the week the Ever Given blocked the canal.

At first, the Suez Canal Authority demanded US$916 million in compensation ($1.2 billion), which was later lowered to US$550 million ($729.9 million).

The two sides have traded blame for the vessel's grounding, with bad weather, poor decisions on the part of canal authorities, and human and technical error all being thrown out as possible factors.

The six-day blockage disrupted global shipping. Hundreds of ships waited in place for the canal to be unblocked, while some ships were forced to take the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa's southern tip, requiring additional fuel and other costs.

[Mickeyrouse]

Typical example of hostage situation…or extortion…or piracy.
The internet is rife with examples of SCA pilots and their indifferent approach to piloting, as well as their own petty extortions. Yet though SCA pilots( Suez employees) were on the Ever Given bridge giving conflicting instructions, as revealed in some of the recordings that have come to light, SCA has the gall to attempt to extract the sums it had been demanding.
No doubt the transit of these mega-size container ships is an accident waiting to happen, and something similar is bound to happen again. The canal needs to be widened to allow for two-way transport its entire length. It will cost billions. Failure to do so, as already seen will also be costly.
Panama can only be seen as another throbbing spot. It is different than Suez by virtue of its lock systems and slightly more twisting course. The same ships pass through Panama as Suez (more or less), and the alternate round-continent trip is even longer at about 14,000 miles. The exact same accident (during a sandstorm) is not likely in a jungle running through the Chagres River, but the locks are even more sensitive. Let’s all just keep our fingers crossed- that seems to have worked so far.

[betwys1]

Originally Posted by Mickeyrouse

/snip/
No doubt the transit of these mega-size container ships is an accident waiting to happen, and something similar is bound to happen again. The canal needs to be widened to allow for two-way transport its entire length. It will cost billions. Failure to do so, as already seen will also be costly. /snip/

Not sure if the scientific evidence has been reported here. It is supported by water channel tests. (Dutch, I think...)
Passage through a narrow, SHALLOW channel has a surprising effect. It is demonstrated to pull the tail end in to the far bank, and to push the bows out in deep vessels providing a pronounced 'bounce' effect without any channel contact at all.
So the fate of the Ever Given is just a demonstration of this newly-established fact, and an authority that does not restrict access to such vessels, or does not dredge the channel deep enough is contributory to such blockages.

[double u]

those who have transited both canals have seen a marked difference between
French-made & Egyptian-run
&
US-made & Panamanian-Run
...now whyever would that be...?

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by betwys1

Not sure if the scientific evidence has been reported here. It is supported by water channel tests. (Dutch, I think...)

Passage through a narrow, SHALLOW channel has a surprising effect. It is demonstrated to pull the tail end in to the far bank, and to push the bows out in deep vessels providing a pronounced 'bounce' effect without any channel contact at all.

So the fate of the Ever Given is just a demonstration of this newly-established fact, and an authority that does not restrict access to such vessels, or does not dredge the channel deep enough is contributory to such blockages.

Nothing new about bank effect and Squat
Has been standard teaching in the 2nd. semester of a Watchkeping Mate's course.

[Mickeyrouse]

Bank effect is not confined to large vessels. We encounter it routinely in the ICW when traveling at hull speed( LWL 29 ft.), and most consistent where the edges of the channel are more or less uniform. It can be kind of a warning about going aground, though I never ignore the depth sounder.

[GordMay]

NOVA May 18/22
In an all-new episode, NOVA follows the dramatic efforts to free the “Ever Given” and investigates what went wrong leading up to one of the most expensive shipping disasters ever. Meanwhile, maritime experts analyze other recent accidents to try to figure out how such devastating crashes could be prevented in the future.
➥ http://links.nova.wgbh.org/e/evib?_t...1BlVEytiyvPSVE

[IslandHopper]

A few repairs....

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by IslandHopper

A few repairs....

Apart from having the suitable drydock it seems not such a big deal.
There is not so much technical stuff installed in the bow which would complicate things and building a big section is nothing extraordinary for a shipyard.
But, a cool photo still. Thanks for posting it.

[Sand crab]

We finally have the real story on what happened. It was vampires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6m9JcKRx6w

[HeywoodJ]

Those aren’t repairs, the grounding made Evergreen realize that she should have been built as a RORO in the first place

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by IslandHopper

A few repairs....

Interesting! It's always nice to get the follow-up on a story like this.

Plus, that's a beautiful photograph. Good lighting, perspective, color, well framed, and even a little evocative.