[VKumar]

Originally Posted by yogesh.8984

crew of Ever Given which blocked the Suez Canal, are all Indian.

Originally Posted by DriverR

As per this article, all crew are Indian, which means the Captain is Indian as well.

Is it only me, or the word 'Jugaad' has hit the mind of someone else too, on reading this news?

It has become important to discover the reason of the failures, if any, which caused this entire mishap!

In case, someone is unaware of the meaning of Jugaad, here is what Google has to say:

Jugaad ("Jugaar") is a colloquial Hindi (Devanagari: जुगाड़ (जुगाड)), Bengali (জোগাড়), Marathi जुगाड, Punjabi, Sindhi and Urdu (جگاڑ) word, which refers to a non-conventional, frugal innovation, often termed a "hack".[1] It could also refer to an innovative fix or a simple work-around, a solution that bends the rules, or a resource that can be used in such a way. It is also often used to signify creativity: to make existing things work, or to create new things with meager resources.

Jugaad is increasingly accepted as a management technique and is recognized all over the world as an acceptable form of frugal engineering at peak. Companies in Southeast Asia are adopting jugaad as a practise to reduce research and development costs. Jugaad also applies to any kind of creative and out-of-the-box thinking or life hacks that maximize resources for a company and its stakeholders.

The underlined section fits so well in the engineering problems, like the one here too!

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

What prevents Suez canal from banning unassisted transit?
Can't they put railway locomotives like the Panama canal and guide ships along?

They can. And there are certain vessel that do require tugs. But this is just a long canal and perfectly normal and safe for vessels to navigate under their own power. Having all ships using tugs from one end to the other is going to be prohibitively expensive. As it is, crossing the Suez canal is not cheap.

The Suez canal is no different than many other waterways leading up to large harbours. E.g. take Rotterdam airport, one of the largest harbours in the world. Ships sail in and out of hook of Holland and navigate 20-35 miles land inwards on the “Nieuwe Waterweg”. Only when they get near to their actual mooring will they use tugs.

The Panama tugs you refer to are only used on the locks. Just like the Suez canal the Panama canal does not require assistance. The Panama canal is just like any other harbour that is accessed via locks (E.g. Amsterdam or Antwerp harbour). Tugs are used to manoeuvre in and out of the lock, but once you cleared the lock and find yourself on the inland waterway / canal, no tugs are required.

there are quite a few ships that have sufficient power from their bow and turn thruster that they do not require tugs at all. Think all those massive cruise ships! or ferries. Only during exceptional conditions, usually wind/storm will they be requiring a tug.

The lock master and or canal authorities can always mandate a tug or multiple tug for any vessel, if they deem it is necessary for a safe passage. But for normal passages across canals, inland waterways, simply not required.

This is a one off.

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

And it's high time Egypt widens the narrow passage or puts in alternate routes to prevent such a blockage considering the massive economic impact caused.

Widen to what purpose? This is one off event. in 2015 a major upgrade project was completed which doubled the capacity of the Suez canal!

Effectively doubling the transient capacity and allowing bi-directional traffic.

At the end of the day it is just a business decision. Everybody crying wolf, but who is willing to pay up for that widening. Neither the Canal authorities or the shipping companies feel the real economic impact. Their revenue comes in a little later, but that is all.

Jeroen

[adi.mariner]

Originally Posted by VKumar

Is it only me, or the word 'Jugaad' has hit the mind of someone else too, on reading this news?

Indians are amongst the most respected and reliable seafarer nationalities all over the world and are known for their professional conduct. The examinations conducted by Directorate General of Shipping are one of the toughest in the world for obtaining the Certificate of Competency to sail as a Navigating Officer or Engineer onboard Merchant ships. So kindly do not generalise about Indians and Jugaad.

[VKumar]

Originally Posted by adi.mariner

Indians are amongst the most respected and reliable seafarer nationalities all over the world

I do agree on this point mate, have a few friends in the same profession, as well as Indian Navy.

That one was simply a light hearted response in line of a few previous ones, nothing serious about it. Still, I take my words back in case you didn't like it

[TwerkyC0ffee]

Some more pictures of the ship's dislodging effort by the Suez Canal Authority.





SOURCE: REDDIT (r/CatastrophicFailure)

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

They can. And there are certain vessel that do require tugs.

Jeroen

Reminded me of one of my transits.

Back in 2008 I think, we were transiting Suez. We had transited half the canal and were anchoring in Great Bitter lake. The pilot gave the final astern kick and forgot to stop engine in time. By the time this was realized, the Anchor chain had broken off.

The ship had to then be escorted all the way till Port Suez by tugs. Needless to say, company lost a good deal of money in this episode.

Suez used to be a regular transit once upon a time. I think I did 20 crossings in a span of 2-3 years. Those were the days when piracy off Gulf of Aden had started picking up as well. Had a close encounter as well once when the Main engine Lub oil pumps failed leading to ME shut down a few knots away from Socotra Islands. But thats a story for a different time

[sagarpadaki]

Is the ship name 'Evergiven' Or 'Evergreen'?

[Gansan]

How did that happen? As far as I know all ships while transiting the canal will be under the command of a Suez canal Pilot who will come on board. They will only be Egyptians. No other nationalities allowed by Egyptian law. It is not as if the crew themselves made mistakes while navigating the canal.

My former employer had three tankers which crossed the canal frequently. The masters and chief engineers told me about the pilots.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Is the ship name 'Evergiven' Or 'Evergreen'?

The company is Evergreen. Ship's name is Ever Given.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Is the ship name 'Evergiven' Or 'Evergreen'?

I heard in some video (probably the BBC one) yesterday that the name of the ship is Ever Given, and the name of the company that owns it is Evergreen.

[JithinR]

An aerial shot that shows a glimpse of the effect of this whole debacle.

Source: https://twitter.com/reneeklahr/statu...613207040?s=19

[Mountainman21]

What I have heard is that this ship is larger than the permitted size of ships on Suez canal, which is causing the delay in resolving the issue.

Also, short term power failure is being attributed for this stranding.

I read a really funny thread on twitter on this yesterday, person running it giving insights as well as providing really funny commentary.

[Kln]

So. Can any of the mariners here tell us how this ends? Like probably timelines and theories?

[Venkatesh]

The stranded Ever Given mega-container ship in the Suez Canal is holding up an estimated $9.6bn (£7bn) of goods each day, according to shipping data.

This works out at $400m an hour in trade along the waterway which is a vital passageway between east and west.

Data from shipping expert Lloyd's List values the canal's westbound traffic at roughly $5.1bn a day, and eastbound daily traffic at around $4.5bn.

The canal, which separates Africa from the Middle East and Asia, is one of the busiest trade routes in the world, with about 12% of total global trade moving through it.

Source

[Jeroen]

No worries, the Egyptian authorities are on top of this:



But seriously, this is how it looks seen by satellite:



It is difficult to get a real sense of what is happening on the ground, but definitely this is going to take days if not weeks to sort it seems.

Smit Salvage crew (Or the Elite Salvage Crew as Bloomberg calls them) is on the position and we are seeing some interviews here in Dutch newspapers.

They are looking into three parallel actions:

1) Mobilize sufficient very powerful tugs
2) Mobilize ships and cranes to offload container and fuel
3) Mobilize dredging equipment.

They want to try and dredge away some of the tableau (talud) on which the vessel is grounded. They will offload containers, although probably they will start with the fuel first, providing they can get hold of sufficient fuel barge capacity.

Once the vessel is light enough, the tableau has been dredged, they will attempt to pull it off and re-float her. It is a proven and tested formula for stranded ships like this. However, they will want to do so at the most opportune moment from a tide perspective. Obviously, the Suez canal being open on both ends has tidal movement, eb and flood. But also during the course of the month the eb and flood changes. Apparently this coming Monday will see the high flood. But it might be too soon.

https://gcaptain.com/smit-suez-salvage-team/

Apparently they signed a LOF with the ships owner / canal authorities. A LOF or Lloyds Open Form is a standard, international salvage agreement, dating all the way back from the 19th century.

It is a pretty unique type of agreement. The open refers to the fact that no specific sum of money has been agreed, that is left open. It is essentially a no cure no pay type of agreement. The final reward will be determined afterwards through a (binding) arbitration hearing in London. Conducted by specialist in the maritime field.

The awarded sum is set based on the value of the vessel and its cargo, and very important, the level of difficulty and risk the salvage company had to undertake.

Although Salvage crews working on a job won’t delay anything, everybody is acutely aware of the longer and the more difficult the job, the more everybody will earn. In my salvage days, we were already earning very good base salaries, but during salvage work there were additional salvage, towage, danger bonuses for every day on the job! On top of that salvage crews might get a (very small) part of the total salvage sum awarded.

I remember one salvage, which turned out to be a bit disappointing for us. I was chief engineer on one of our Anchor Handling Tugs (AHT). We had been without a contract, moored of the coast of Congo or Gabon, can’t remember any more. Anyway, being without a contract, i.e. laid up, means there is very little to do, but wait for new orders to come in. So after a few weeks we were bored out of our skulls. All maintenance and painting had been done, there is only so much fishing you can do.

Then we got a call on the VHF radio from the port authorities. A large vessel had developed steering problems and had run aground. It was in a particular difficult part of the harbour entrance, lots of sandbanks. Our captain asked for a LOF agreement, the authorities did not want to give the ok, they wanted to contract us on time and materials basis. Because it usually works out cheaper. We knew we were the only powerful tug anywhere near, so the captain kept his foot down and a few hours later they agreed.

When a tug gets the LOF clearance the crew will cheer and will start talking about paying off the mortgage, buying a new Porsch etc. But first we had a job to do.

So we started up and sailed towards the stricken vessel. We talked it over with the harbour authorities, the captain of the vessel and the pilot. We decided to give her a little pull and see what happens. So we put our towing line across and got into position. Essentially trying to tow the vessel out along the same course as she got stranded, but into the other direction of course.

On these AHTs the captain manoeuvres and it is usually the chief engineer who sits next to him and handles the towing winches and oversees the crew working on the deck. I.e. yours truly. The towing lines was attached and secured to the stranded vessel and we were slowly moving away, paying out the towing rope carefully. You need to maintain some pressure on it, it should not sag too much below the water level where it might snag something.

I told the captain; Jaap, you know the drill, this is LOF, so lets go very easy! We have got 14000 BHP, use them sparingly, you and I both have ridiculous mortgages. And I know you want that Porsche too!

It was a standard joke. But as we took out the final slack on the towing line, with the engines at no more then 10% power, we pulled the grounded vessel off the sandbank! Just like that. Shortest salvage job in history most likely.

No new Porsches were ordered that evening.


Jeroen