The Suez Canal Obstruction: An Overview
The Ever Given, a giant container ship, became wedged across Egypt’s Suez Canal on March 23rd, 2021. The ship en route from Taiwan to Netherlands, led to the blockage of one of the world’s busiest trade routes.
According to the information published by Suez Canal Authority (SCA), the ship was unable to keep a straight trajectory due to high winds and a sand storm that reduced visibility.
The news of the incident went viral, with memes being created globally. The long length of the ship was also the talk of the town and was being compared with several tall buildings and monuments.
Memes aside, the general public seemed unaware of the importance of the blocked trading route.
The importance of the canal stems first and foremost from its location; it is the only place that directly connects the waters of Europe with the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the countries of the Asia-Pacific without having to circumnavigate the African continent.
Of the 39.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil imported by seaborne methods in 2020, 1.74 million bpd went through the Suez Canal, according to information published by the tanker tracking firm Kpler.
Given such importance, the blockade also referred to as the world’s worst traffic jam has had and will continue to have a devastating impact on the global economy due to delayed supplies.
While the blockade lasted, several ships resorted to use the alternate route through the African Continent. The alternate route (purple line), if taken, from Taiwan to Netherlands will prove to be more expensive and will take much more days to cover, as seen in the following image:
The difference in the distance and days covered between the two routes is shown below:
Earlier this week, on Monday, The Ever Given was finally dislodged after constant efforts by tugboats and is now floating. Vessel Finder, a real time tracker of marine traffic, released images of the ship away from the banks of the Suez Canal for the first time in seven days.
