Suez blocked by stuck ship!

Author
Discussion

Blackpuddin

16,522 posts

205 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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If all it takes for this to happen is a gust of wind (and presumably an inept crew) I'm amazed it hasn't happened before.

Cold

15,247 posts

90 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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loafer123

15,440 posts

215 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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According to the expert on Today earlier, it was due to a total loss of power...the ship went black.

Perhaps the pilot leant on the big red button by mistake?

Blackpuddin

16,522 posts

205 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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He should have turned it off and on again, any fool knows that.

Petrus1983

8,719 posts

162 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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Simpo Two said:
'Aground' is one thing, jammed across and stuck at both ends is another.

Steering failure perhaps?

I am impressed at the speed with which Captain Balfour upgraded his boat though.
Guess the rake let him down this time laugh

saaby93

32,038 posts

178 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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How big a digger do you need?



anonymous-user

Original Poster:

54 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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Given how much of the red "below the water line" hull paint you can see, i think it's safe to say this one is pretty "hard" aground! The stiction between the hull and the canal bottom is going to be enourmous even without a significant proportion of the ships massive weight pressing down on the interface.

Removing containers in situ is going to be hard as well. There are thousands off them, the ship is stuck at about 45 degrees across the canal, and the upper containers which must come off first must be about 50m above water level. Surely only a very large floating jib crane is going to be able to get access, unless they can build some sort of bodged up jib comming out from the shore line, but that seems rather hard on sand (ie no solid foundation) and the ship is 400m long, so there are few cranes with anything like enough reach / height capability?


Pixelpeep Z4

8,600 posts

142 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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Any chance this was deliberate ?

stock prices?

one country sabotaging another ?

saaby93

32,038 posts

178 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
quotequote all
Max_Torque said:
Given how much of the red "below the water line" hull paint you can see, i think it's safe to say this one is pretty "hard" aground! The stiction between the hull and the canal bottom is going to be enourmous even without a significant proportion of the ships massive weight pressing down on the interface.

Removing containers in situ is going to be hard as well. There are thousands off them, the ship is stuck at about 45 degrees across the canal, and the upper containers which must come off first must be about 50m above water level. Surely only a very large floating jib crane is going to be able to get access, unless they can build some sort of bodged up jib comming out from the shore line, but that seems rather hard on sand (ie no solid foundation) and the ship is 400m long, so there are few cranes with anything like enough reach / height capability?
can they raise the water level?

Muzzer79

9,971 posts

187 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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Pixelpeep Z4 said:
Any chance this was deliberate ?

stock prices?

one country sabotaging another ?
If you're going to block the Suez canal, there's much more efficient and longer term ways of doing it, no doubt, than this.

Plus, the goods on these ships are going into the whole of Europe, not just one country.

Anything's possible, but the chances are very remote.

fiatpower

3,035 posts

171 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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Muzzer79 said:
If you're going to block the Suez canal, there's much more efficient and longer term ways of doing it, no doubt, than this.

Plus, the goods on these ships are going into the whole of Europe, not just one country.

Anything's possible, but the chances are very remote.
Good way to make it look accidental though.

Seight_Returns

1,640 posts

201 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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Chinese diplomatic and military posturing over Taiwan has been increasing considerably in recent weeks.

If China wanted to retake Taiwan by force - blocking the Suez Canal and making it look like an accident to make it logistically much harder to reinforce Taiwan by sea would be an obvious first move.

fiatpower

3,035 posts

171 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
quotequote all
Seight_Returns said:
Chinese diplomatic and military posturing over Taiwan has been increasing considerably in recent weeks.

If China wanted to retake Taiwan by force - blocking the Suez Canal and making it look like an accident to make it logistically much harder to reinforce Taiwan by sea would be an obvious first move.
I don’t know. I think they’d be more worried about the US Pacific fleet than anything the Europeans could muster.

I liked a suggestion on Twitter that they should get land vehicles to pull it back and forth to release it laugh

dudleybloke

19,822 posts

186 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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Time to dust off the plans for Project Plowshare.

paulrockliffe

15,702 posts

227 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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Seight_Returns said:
Chinese diplomatic and military posturing over Taiwan has been increasing considerably in recent weeks.

If China wanted to retake Taiwan by force - blocking the Suez Canal and making it look like an accident to make it logistically much harder to reinforce Taiwan by sea would be an obvious first move.
True, but at the same time I know if I was driving a boat through there pretty much my only thought all the way through would be, "What would happen if we hit the side now?" You can't really blame the Captain if he's just given in to temptation.

paulrockliffe

15,702 posts

227 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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Also, this more News than Boats isn't it?

Ashfordian

2,057 posts

89 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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Max_Torque said:
Given how much of the red "below the water line" hull paint you can see, i think it's safe to say this one is pretty "hard" aground! The stiction between the hull and the canal bottom is going to be enourmous even without a significant proportion of the ships massive weight pressing down on the interface.

Removing containers in situ is going to be hard as well. There are thousands off them, the ship is stuck at about 45 degrees across the canal, and the upper containers which must come off first must be about 50m above water level. Surely only a very large floating jib crane is going to be able to get access, unless they can build some sort of bodged up jib comming out from the shore line, but that seems rather hard on sand (ie no solid foundation) and the ship is 400m long, so there are few cranes with anything like enough reach / height capability?
Wouldn't some on-land winching solution on both sides of the canal provide more force to drag this than tugs that only have water as resistance?

Would need some strong and long cables and possibly a lot of winches combined

Biker 1

7,729 posts

119 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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I reckon they'll have to dig a bypass canal, then leave the ship to rot away in what would become an evaporation pond.....

Cold

15,247 posts

90 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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Biker 1 said:
I reckon they'll have to dig a bypass canal, then leave the ship to rot away in what would become an evaporation pond.....
Yep. They do a similar thing with trains. I've seen the documentary.


Gary29

4,158 posts

99 months

Wednesday 24th March 2021
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Was it a Greek captain by any chance? With bikini clad girls on the deck? Preceded by "Watch this!"?