Is it just us or does the year 2021 feel like 2020 all over again? Numerous people assumed 2021 was going to be a reboot, yet so many things are still exactly the same as they were in the year before, from quarantines to lockdowns to restrictions and apparently, giant cargo ships getting stuck in the Suez Canal.
Just weeks after the huge cargo ship called the Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal, another massive cargo ship called the Maersk Emerald happened to find itself stalled in the middle of the incredibly busy waterway too.
Back in 1988, Vin Scully, a Los Angeles sportscaster said, “In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened” talking about a walk-off homerun game in the baseball World Series. Yet it would seem that no other words make as much sense about what happened in the Suez Canal with two colossal ships stalling just a few weeks from each other.
Just last Friday, on May 28, a massive cargo ship named the Maersk Emerald happened to go through some engine issues as it was passing the waterway around the area of Ismailia. Once again, responders rushed to the area to see how they could free the ship from the middle of the Suez, worrying that they would have another 6-day issue on their hands.
The Ever Given, which is considered one of the biggest container ships in the entire world, happened to be traveling from Malaysia to the Netherlands when it ended up blocking the canal from March 23 to 29. As a result, they received loads of sanctions and even got impounded by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA). The ship, which is owned by the Japanese company Shoei Kisen Kaisha, ended up getting stuck after a sandstorm blew across the region and causing the ship to go off course.
Thankfully, unlike the 1,300-foot Ever Given ship that got stuck before it for almost an entire week, the Maersk Emeralddidn’t take long to be freed. Rescue workers managed to tow the ship out of the canal in order to get the necessary repairs, which also allowed other ships to make their way through the bustling route before it managed to cause more catastrophic economic problems.
#قناة_السويس: سفينة الحاويات MAERSK EMERALD جنحت في الممر الملاحي خلال عبورها اليوم، بعد حدوث عطل مفاجئ في محركات وأجهزة التوجيه الخاصة بالسفينة، وتم تعويمها من خلال 4 قاطرات، وحركة الملاحة بالقناة لم تتأثر حيث تم تحويل مسار قافلة الشمال لتعبر القناة الجديدة pic.twitter.com/lc647OohHJ
— حماده زغلول حسين (@GHpeFLa8lXjtE5X) May 28, 2021
But what this new mishap managed to spotlight is just how much the entire population relies on this Mediterranean-to-Red Sea route to keep the world turning. When the last giant cargo ship got stuck for almost a week, there were hundreds of ships that had no choice to either completely stop in their tracks or take a less straightforward route around the Horn of Africa in order to get their cargo to their destination.
According to news reports and other media outlets, a number of analysts figure that the Ever Given ship blockage created a recurrent effect, which has affected the economy worldwide and will continue to do so for many more weeks. In fact, Egypt is looking to file charges against the ship, asking for $916 million to around $600 million in damages for the six-day blockage. At least this is one hefty issue the Maersk Emerald won’t have to deal with, for now at least.
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