Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

In this Discussion

Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.

    Support MFO

  • Donate through PayPal

Comments

  • Things would go a lot faster if they were willing to unload the containers.

    A lot of careers will get busted over an event like this. Starting with the Captain's.
  • edited March 2021
    Not necessarily the Captain. During canal transit the ships are all under the control of local pilots, supposedly specially trained and qualified to handle the tight passage and the heavy winds which are frequent in the area.

    The banks in the area where the ship is located are nothing but sand, and are already crumbling where the ship impacted the bank.. How would you even get the type of huge cranes necessary for handling loaded containers there?

    This morning's WSJ has some good pics and lots of detailed info on the situation.
  • Man, I just knew I should've taken the Panama this morning.....
  • Old_Joe said:

    Not necessarily the Captain. During canal transit the ships are all under the control of local pilots, supposedly specially trained and qualified to handle the tight passage and the heavy winds which are frequent in the area.

    The banks in the area where the ship is located are nothing but sand, and are already crumbling where the ship impacted the bank.. How would you even get the type of huge cranes necessary for handling loaded containers there?

    This morning's WSJ has some good pics and lots of detailed info on the situation.

    The Captain is always responsible. It's an ancient rule. It was the Captain's decision to sail under the prevailing conditions. The captain is also responsible for making sure there were enough tugs to handle prevailing conditions.

    Pilots might face some blow-back depending on local regulations, and the result of drug and alcohol testing. Check out the Cosco Busan incident from a port near you. What happened to Capt. Cota was actually sort of a new development in the US industry at the time.

    Given the current timeline, and economic impact, I'm really surprised they don't already have lift capacity installed on barges. It's not like all those containers are filled with lead. They certainly wouldn't need a lot of fancy tech to offload fuel and ballast.

    The BBC makes it sound hard. But somebody has a manifest. And there are people that specialize in loading and unloading container ships so that they don't tip over when they're along side. Which this ship essentially is.
  • rforno said:

    Man, I just knew I should've taken the Panama this morning.....

    A man, a plan, a canal ...
    http://www.fun-with-words.com/palin_panama.html
  • edited March 2021
    image

    For some sense of size:

    The pictured tug boat Baraka 1 is 69 meters long (226 ft.) with a beam (width) of 16 meters or 50.5 feet. That makes the tug boat substantially larger than a typical 180’ long great lakes Coast Guard cutter like the USCGC Sundew. (pictured).

    No idea how to free this. I’d call Elon Musk for ideas. The bill will be huge. More experience with ships stuck in ice in this region than in sand. In ice they try to shift weight side to side and rock the boat. But here .....:)
  • beebee
    edited March 2021
    Ok...I'll take a shot at this. We build a lock around the ship...raise the water level...and get the "hull" out of there...or what hank thought I said.

    Good read:
    AquaticIllinoisRiverNavigation
  • This also shows how fragile global trade actually is. *shudder*
  • edited March 2021
    bee said:

    We build a lock around the ship...raise the water level...and get the hull out of there.

    @bee - Did you mean to say “get the hell out of there”? :)
  • edited March 2021
    image


    image

    It's being reported that there are no cranes in the area large enough to off-load these containers. The only possibility is to use helicopters. That shouldn't take too long. NPR is reporting that Lloyd's List estimates that the waiting game is costing $9.6 billion per day.

    Link to NPR article
  • edited March 2021
    At a glance, from that sat image one might imagine they could run two very thick steel cables (from bow and stern) to shore and winch like hell. Of course, that’s a great way to lose your head if cable snaps. In this case, it probably would take out a city.
  • edited March 2021
    Aren’t we (USA) still energy independent? Or do we now rely on the canal? But yes I like the Elon suggestion... perhaps Boring Co. can free the ship.
  • Two summers ago we traveled to the Seattle area where we took a harbor cruise boat trip. We motored through the Port of Seattle, watching cargo ships being off loaded by land-based fixed cranes, and sailed within a few yards of a ship. I can’t site facts and figures, but I can tell you that these boats are so big they defy description. Their immense height, beam, and length, the seemingly impossible stacks of containers above deck, produce a feeling of being just an insignificant spec in comparison to something other-worldly. It’s hard to imagine tug boats with enough power to nudge one of these leviathans, let alone conceive of engines big enough to propel such a monster. From my non-professional perspective, the authorities in Egypt have a real headache if only because if the size of the ship and its apparent grounding in a very sandy area which appears to offer little stable shoreline on which to place any rescue equipment.
  • edited May 2021
    How do you re-float a cargo ship of this size?
  • @Mark, thanks. Just the sheer size of this large cargo ship.
  • edited April 2021
  • edited May 2021
    Lawyers making claims. Ya. And uncle Jeffrey never did anything with those underage girls, either.
    ...Gonna need you to send Lawyers, Guns and Money to get me outa this.



Sign In or Register to comment.