OT. Ever Given Floats. Suez Canal Open

[Dean Hoffman]

A super moon helped.

[Ed Pawlowski]

And a bunch of tugs. Wonder what the final bill will be.

I saw a may showing both the canal and the trip around the horn. It adds 9 1/2 days amd 3500 miles on average.

[gfretwell]

... and moving a bunch of sand.

This is far from an unprecedented thing and the world survived. The canal was closed by a couple of Egypt/Israel wars, once for 8 years. The one after the 6 day war had 15 ships trapped in the canal by scuttled ships on each end for 8 years. After the 56 war it was closed a year or so.

[Scott Lurndal]

You think, perhaps, that the many-fold increase in shipping since 1967 makes for a completely different situation? How many containerized cargo vessels where there in 1967?

(The Suez canal was closed from 1967-1975).

Worldwide shipping (millions of tons loaded)

1970 2,605 2017 10,702

Moreover the mix of shipping has changed considerably since 1970 with the rise of container vessels (the largest of which can't use the canal anyway) and the demise of the tramp steamer.

Half of the shipping in 1970 was Oil & Gas. By 2017 that had dropped to 30% of all shipping (while growing substantially in volume).

In 1996 there were 45 million TEUs of containerized cargo, by 2018, there was 160 million TEUs of containerized cargo annually.

Comparing the late 1960's/70's to 2020 is not an apples to apples comparision.

(Figures above from "50 years of Review of Maritime Transport, 1968-2018" United Nations Transport and Trade Facilitation Series No. 11)

[gfretwell]

Humm do you think that might have been a problem in the 70s?

[rbowman]

Plus the added adventure of shooting Somali pirates.

[AC]

Reopened after Egypt finally signed an agreement with Israel.

The war back in 1956 deeply involved the UK and France as much or more than Israel. They had built the canal and they owned it, until Egypt "nationalized" it, which I guess is a synonym for confiscate. Although it says Egypt said it would pay investors the stock price . (Did they actually do that? )

Eisenhower got the UK and France to withdraw by pressuring them, because their participation was stronger than Israel's.

Israel had free use of the canal until Egypt took over in 1956, not afterwards. But in negotiations that year, it finally got the Egyptians to stop blocking the Straits of Tiran, which Egypt had since 1950. The Straits led to the small harbor in Eilat. Eilat is much farther from population centers than the harbors in Haifa and Ashdod. Israel was much more agrarian then and didn't import or export much except fuel oil.

Then in 1967, Egypt again blockaded the Straits of Tiran, a clear act of war against Israel that led to the Six Day War about 2 weeks later.

[micky]

I don't know if I knew about that. Only 4 years ago so I don't think I've had time to forget alrady.

I also don't think I knew about stealth destroyers, but it was obvious that's what they are from even your little picture here.

[jimmy]

We can still use deadly force to protect our property on the seas but not on land.

How the hell did that happen?

[Tekkie©]

On Mon, 29 Mar 2021 13:03:07 -0400, Ed Pawlowski posted for all of us to digest...

Don't worry, we will all pay for it.

[gfretwell]

$2.799 today for regular, I already am.

[rbowman]

I read today where India is jumping into the fray. I don't know about the captain but the crew was Indian.

'The Mutiny of the Elsinore' is one of Jack London's lesser known books. The socialists who claim London as one of their own would prefer it to be completely forgotten. Let's just say London wasn't woke and the third world crew gets treated harshly.

[Jim Joyce]

Lee County? Looks like Costco is selling for $2.769.

In case pennies count.

[gfretwell]

Not enough to drive 20 miles for a tank of gas. Besides I get 3 cents off at Shell with a rewards card and I used a 20% off gift card from Publix so Costco was quite a bit more.