Traffic
jam in the Suez Canal: Global trade impacted; Know cause and impact
Built in the year 1869, Suez Canal provides a major shortcut
for ships moving between Asia and Europe. Before its construction, the ships
had to sail around Africa to finish the same journey.
The Suez Canal is known to be a critical shipping artery
that links the Mediterranean and Red Seas through Egypt. On Tuesday, it has
been blocked after a large cargo ship ran aground while passing through it,
bringing traffic to a halt on the busy trade route. In order to minimize disruption to global trade, Egypt is now diverting ships to an older channel.
The blockage in Suez Canal has already led to a long queue of vessels waiting
to cross it, according to an IE report. The Suez Canal, which is a human-made
waterway, is one of the most heavily used shipping lanes in the world, carrying
over 12 per cent of world trade by volume. Built in the year 1869, Suez Canal
provides a major shortcut for ships moving between Asia and Europe. Before its
construction, the ships had to sail around Africa to finish the same journey.
According to the report, the vessel that is blocking Suez
Canal is the Ever Given. It is a Panama-registered container ship that is on
its way from China to Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Due to a mishap caused by bad
weather, the 2018-built vessel, which is 400 meters long and 59 meters wide,
got stuck here. While passing northwards through the canal on Tuesday morning
local time to enter the Mediterranean Sea, the ship weighing 2 lakh tones ran
aground. It got stuck sideways across Suez Canal, blocking the path of other ships
waiting to cross through on both sides. A Taiwanese transport firm- Evergreen
Marine, that operates the ship, said that none of the crew members was injured.
According to a maritime historian who spoke to the BBC,
incidents like this are rare, but when they happen, it can have massive
ramifications for global trade. The Ever Given ship is the largest vessel to go
aground in the Suez Canal as per the report. Now, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA)
is trying to refloat the ship utilizing rescue and tug units. Besides, diggers
are also trying to free Ever Given from the canal’s bank, where it is lodged.
According to experts, the effort to remove the
ship as well as make the canal again fully functional could take several days.
A daylong blockage could have a severe impact on global trade since the
alternative route between Asia and Europe around Africa is a week slower than
the Suez route. A Reuters report stated that any such delay could also result
in a shortage of container vessels and boxes, as 30 per cent of all container
ships in the world pass through Suez canal. As per SCA data, approximately
19,000 ships (an average of 51.5 ships per day) with a net tonnage of 1.17
billion tones passed through the canal in the year 2020
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