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Right now there's a very stressed captain causing a multi $million ($billion?) traffic jam in the Suez canal
https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374480234632736769?s=19
Also: forget #iceroadtruckers, marine salvage YouTube is where it's at.
I completely agree with that. I somehow went down a marine salvage hole on YouTube and it was fascinating.
Well, there’s always the scenic route...
Anyone know if they’ve set up detour signs either end?
Well, there’s always the scenic route…
Anyone know if they’ve set up detour signs either end?
It can't be worse than the diversion when the Forth Bridges are shut. And they can just roll the windows up as they go past Somalia.
I like that you can see the angle on marinetraffic.com 😬
Just noticed the map with the other delayed ships, can't help but think they should get all the other traffic through before they let the Stone 1 try, that's just asking for trouble.
Full speed sideways!
It's the ickle digger at the bow (look at the twitter photo) that makes me raise a smile. That boat is blimmin huge!
Look at its route as it lifted anchor and steamed into the canal 🙂
"You're gonna need a smaller boat."
Anyone remember when a (smaller) boat got stuck in a river near Sutton Bridge? One end wedged on each bank.
Then the tide went out and it snapped!
This is going to be fun, I've potentially got containers stuck behind that due into Genoa, Girona, Le havre and Rotterdam in the next month.
Anyone remember when a (smaller) boat got stuck in a river near Sutton Bridge? One end wedged on each bank.
Then the tide went out and it snapped!
Even by Sutton Bridge standards that's impressive!
Oh jesus christ, it's the poor buggers piling up in the Red Sea I feel for, nobody should have to endure that!
That's my GRX groupset delayed again!
Allegedly the ickle digger is there as the prow is buried in the underbank - the ship had a power blackout, drifted to the right and buried the nose in the bank then the stern drifted round
https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1374597391463120896/photo/2
I have dinghy and 2hp outboard if they want a tow?
I don't pretend to know anything about ships and such, but watching this cluster **** unfold has been fascinating.
I wouldn't want to be involved in the debrief! "So Captain, this gust of wind then..."
Anyone remember when a (smaller) boat got stuck in a river near Sutton Bridge? One end wedged on each bank.
Then the tide went out and it snapped!
I live about a mile from where this happened and was interested enough to read the report, apparently the crew just climbed down a ladder, walked away from it, and disappeared!
“Boys, we’re gonna need a longer rope...!”
"How many tugs do you need?"
"Yes"
“How many tugs do you need?”
“Yes”
I think the bigger issue is what is going on below the waterline - the bulbous Bow looks well buried in the canal bank, and as i understand it the canal is quite shallow in places - so possible the vessel is partially grounded.
I'm not exactly sure how shallow the canal is, but i know some UK Navy Destroyers have issues with seawater pumps hoovering up sand off the bottom whilst transiting through the canal.
This could take weeks to sort out, particularly if they need to unload it...
Westlife can still claim the worst Evergreen disaster in history, though.
bike parts to go up another 50% then
The scale here is just so epic. If tugs don't work options seem to run out pretty quickly. Even unloading would be an epic problem.
Will probably need a dredger.
Lightering the containers is very difficult from a vessel that size.
There also a knock on for the other container ships, they run to a tight schedule and disruption to the slot for their port calls has a chain effect.
The scale here is just so epic. If tugs don’t work options seem to run out pretty quickly. Even unloading would be an epic problem.
Just leave it there and dig a new canal next door.
Wait until high tide and pull. Unload if that doesn't work.
Prob is breaking the static friction.
Just leave it there and dig a new canal next door.
Probably be quicker than the other options!!
Can you imagine the phone call from the Captain to HQ......
not much tide there and its in the middle of neaps. spring tide in about 4-5 days might give them another 1/2 metre at high tide.
Ooh, I know the answer to this one! They just need to let the air out of the tyres or something.....
Bet Elon Musk pipes up with a 'solution' soon.
“How many tugs do you need?”
“Yes”
Reminds me of the famous Leon line, which we use quite a lot at work. What do you mean bring me everyone?
thols2
Free MemberJust leave it there and dig a new canal next door.
That's what the little 360's doing.
Surround with coffer dam. Pump in water. Refloat. Straighten up. Lower water. Remove coffer.
It is easy when you type it.
They just need to flush all their loos at once. Bosh! Sortedaahh
apparently they have refloated/dragged it onto the hard shoulder and traffic is moving again.
I'm willing to bet my new wheels will have found themselves stuck in the queue 🙁
Prob is breaking the static friction.
They should check the containers for a shipment of KY Gel 🙂
| REPORT
Northwind
Full Member
thols2
Free MemberJust leave it there and dig a new canal next door.
That’s what the little 360’s doing.
The little 360 is probably at least a 25 tonner 😂😂
apparently they have refloated/dragged it onto the hard shoulder and traffic is moving again.
Nope, they retracted this and confirmed boat is still well and truly stuck.
Less like Forth Road Bridge and more like Rest and be Thankful. Old canal parallel to this stretch is open though I imagine that will come with size limitations.
I wouldn't imagine lightering would be much trouble for a salvage vessel, trouble is getting them to a port compatible with something that size! There is a small terminal at Port Said but I don't remember seeing anything bigger than a hundred or so teu berthed there (admittedly I last passed through there about 15 years ago).
I wouldn’t imagine lightering would be much trouble for a salvage vessel,
Yes it will will be. It will take weeks.
You will need a decent crane to be able to pick those containers off the top of those stacks. Probably a specialist heavy lift to get to that height and reach. You also need somewhere to put them.
Also, due to the size of that thing, you will need to lift a lot of containers to make any difference to the draught.
I doubt there is anything suitable in the Eastern Med, will probably have to come from Europe.
Would it be possible to park smaller ship next to it and transfer containers to that?
Would it be possible to park smaller ship next to it and transfer containers to that?
You still need a crane that can reach far enough and high enough.
Those ships are designed to be loaded and discharged by big straddle cranes.
The containers don't weigh more than 30t, they are just stacked very high and reach you need to get to the centre line is very significant.
These huge container ships are a relatively recent thing and they pose problems the salvage industry has highlighted for a number of years.
Just heard Elon Musk is planning to build a Super Galacti Ship -X and tow the moon round to sort the tides.
And next week he'll call President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi a kiddie fiddler.
It's probably worth noting, that whoever was driving the boat at the time has done more to harm capitalism than all the protests for ooh...at least the last few years or so.
You will need a decent crane to be able to pick those containers off the top of those stacks.
No problem. A small fleet of these, and Robert’s your mothers brother.
"About 12% of global trade and roughly 30% of the world’s shipping container volume transit through the Suez Canal, making it one of the world's most important waterways.
"A rough estimate shows the blockage is costing about $400M an hour, based on calculations from Lloyd's List."
Northwind
thols2
Free MemberJust leave it there and dig a new canal next door.
That’s what the little 360’s doing
It’ll end up like that farmhouse on the M62
Old canal parallel to this stretch is open though I imagine that will come with size limitations.
The parallel sections are North of the Great Bitter Lake. There's no parallel canal where the ship is stuck (or if there is, it's too small to show on Google maps).
A rough estimate shows the blockage is costing about $400M an hour, based on calculations from Lloyd’s List.
You could almost get a Tory consultant for that!
You could almost get a Tory consultant for that!
Has anyone seen Chris Grayling recently...I wonder what he's up to?
Chris Grayling was actually a genius ahead of his time because you can't suffer from your ships getting stuck if your shipping company hasn't got any ships.
Yes it will will be. It will take weeks.
You will need a decent crane to be able to pick those containers off the top of those stacks. Probably a specialist heavy lift to get to that height and reach. You also need somewhere to put them.
Also, due to the size of that thing, you will need to lift a lot of containers to make any difference to the draught.
I doubt there is anything suitable in the Eastern Med, will probably have to come from Europe.
Europe is only a week away at worst, I never said it would be quick but its definitely possible. You also seem to be discounting unloading it from land, how long does it take to build a tower crane? (I realise that's dependant on good ground)
The parallel sections are North of the Great Bitter Lake. There’s no parallel canal where the ship is stuck (or if there is, it’s too small to show on Google maps).
Urgh, the map I saw seemed to suggest there was. One job.
A colleagues wife has four containers of gardening tools on the wayward ship. Her boss is not happy!
does this go down as a racing incident or are they facing a huge insurance bill for it (read - the world faces a huge bill for it in the end)
Could suction dredges be used to clear material from around the hull? I am assuming it it quite soft material (sand).
By the looks of the tracking map I think they were having a bit of fun before it went tits up. Who else hasn't tried to make a route like a cock and balls.
I was wondering if you could generate a wave using one or more large vessels approaching the blockage (then slamming the engines in reverse) while having the tugs try to move it from the other side. Might get it rocking slightly and help to un-stick it?
Or would the size of the wave you could safely generate in the canal be insufficient to give any help?
You might just end up with another large vessel embedded in the side.
Winches could be deployed from land rather than water though. Heaven knows how many you'd need. It does look like there is plenty of space though.
captainclunkz
Full Member
By the looks of the tracking map I think they were having a bit of fun before it went tits up.
Coarse of the Asia Ruby III was a but hairy too 😨
Craning off the containers from land is a massive logistical exercise. Given the height, reach and weight of the containers there are only a few cranes in the whole world capable of that kind of lift. Then you would have to prepare the ground the crane sat on, probably need extensive foundations constructing, and access road for the crane to get to the side of the ship.
Otherwise it would be one of the big salvage floating cranes. I doubt they would be able to get there in anything less that a week.
Absolute nightmare
In principal it's simple.
You need to apply more pulling power than the "ground reaction", a combination of remaining buoyancy and the friction of the seabed, to get it to move.
So to reduce the ground reaction, you can increase buoyancy and or reduce the weight. So dredge the seabed in the vicinity to increase water depth and remove cargo.
The problem is the size of this thing. The ground reaction will be massive. To make any significant difference, you need to increase the water a lot and remove a lot of cargo.
The cargo removal is very difficult because of the height and reach required. Also, the logistics of looking after hundreds of the containers is also problematic.
The tugs trying to move the thing, will have pushed sand up against the hull. Which doesn't help.
If you want to become an internet expert have a read of this USN Salvage Manual it tells you all you need to know. Chapter 6 and 8 in particular.
The one good thing, is that it's not exposed to any weather and has not suffered any significant damage, so it's just a matter of time and resource.
The cargo removal is very difficult because of the height and reach required. Also, the logistics of looking after hundreds of the containers is also problematic.
I think to make any significant difference to the mass they need to remove thousands of containers- not hundreds?
Surely the better option here is to swap the containers onto number of smaller ships - rather than piling them up and the sandy banks? - agree this is easier said than done though..
This is fast turning into a complete nightmare for global trade/cargo movements - the lessons learned from this has got to suggest a parallel canal in all sections?
The scale of this is fascinating - i've visited a few ships in dry-dock over the years and they always look massive close up - this is in a different league entirely though.
Is it still blocked then? I'm sure I read they'd freed the sumbitch the other day.
Surely the better option here is to swap the containers onto number of smaller ships – rather than piling them up and the sandy banks? – agree this is easier said than done though..
You would need to do a proper survey to make an accurate assessment.
The ship can carry 20,000 20ft containers. So even 10% is 2,000. That's a lot barges and lot of quay space for storage. Operating container berths don't want them. They would just delay their planned operations.
Remember the MSC Napoli that was beached in Lyme Bay? The total cargo on that was 4,400 containers. Gives an idea of the size of this one.
Is it still blocked then? I’m sure I read they’d freed the sumbitch the other day.
According to the Marine Traffic ship tracker - it is still not moving.
Is it still blocked then? I’m sure I read they’d freed the sumbitch the other day.
There is a handy website to find out....
https://istheshipstillstuck.com/
gCaptain (@gCaptain) / Twitter
worth a follow. ships starting to reroute round the cape which gives an idea of how long some think it might take to sort out....
Considering how vital a trade route it is globally and how much money goes through it, you'd think they'd have precautions for this sort of thing, considering how narrow/shallow it is in places.
Governments from around the world who benefit from this route should really chip in and get it made wider and dredged deeper for the huge container ships that you get these days. Might prevent this sort of thing happening again.
Their best chance of re-floating it is this weekend and early next week when the tides are at their highest. If they don't manage to re-float it then, the tides aren't as high again until Autumn. Chances are they'd have to start lightening it if that was the case. I'm sure they said on the radio this morning that a 200' high crane would be needed to reach the containers.