Editorial: The cargo ship that can't - how one vessel gummed up works in Suez Canal

The cargo ship MV Ever Given stuck in the Suez Canal in Egypt. A maritime traffic jam grew to more than 200 vessels outside the canal and some began changing course. Photo / ©Maxar Technologies via AP

EDITORIAL

One of the things the internet loves the most is figuring out a pyramid-sized puzzle.

We all like to toss in our 2 cents from the comfort of our remote armchairs. Maybe we could think of something all the people trying to shift a ship the length of a fallen skyscraper have not?

If social media had been around when Red Adair was plugging oil well fires in the Gulf, we'd have had plenty of advice for him, too.

In the case of the Ever Given container ship, that was slumped like a monster steel slug across the Suez Canal in Egypt, the "helpful" suggestions have been as light-hearted as the actual situation is serious.

They ranged from using balloons to refloat it to digging a new canal or sending in Wales' Kiwi rugby coach Wayne Pivac because he knows how to turn things around. "There needs to be considerably less Egypt for this boat to go away," said one Twitter user. Memes have made a lot of the gap in size between the hulking ship and a tiny earth mover working next to it.

At the site, Egyptian canal officials, engineers and workers and a Dutch salvage firm worked hard to refloat the 400m ship with tugboats and dredgers.

Last night the ship was reportedly "partially refloated". Satellite data showed that its bow had been freed. Egyptian officials said it had been straightened.

About 27,000 cu m of sand and mud was removed from around the left side of the bow.

There were earlier reports that hundreds of its 18,300 containers might have to be lifted off to lighten it and make the task easier.

An estimated US$10 billion worth of daily trade took a hit when the Ever Given became wedged in the busy lane during high winds. Bloomberg reports that it wasn't using tug boats and other factors would be looked at.

About 20,000 vessels and 10 to 15 per cent of world trade goes through the canal each year. Oil and gas shipments travel from the Middle East to Europe. Days after the ship got stuck about 6km north of the southern entrance, the maritime cargo jam had grown to 367 vessels.

These ships contain items that keep daily life ticking over including livestock, laptops, vehicles, clothes, grain, and medical items.

Once again, after the mad scramble for protective health gear and equipment a year ago, it takes a random disaster to show up the vulnerabilities of a key cog in the delivery path of global goods.

William Lee, chief economist at the Milken Institute, told AP that: "This is a warning about how vulnerable our supply chains are and how the just-in-time inventory techniques that have been so popular have to be rethought".

A lone ship can gum up the works in the interconnected network of supply chains and world economies.

Military planning and drills involve gaming out possible scenarios and practising for them. But some other areas of life where the consequences of large-scale failure can be far-reaching are surprisingly fragile.

People seem to expect things to work - because they usually do - until they don't. There's more emphasis on dealing with problems than preventing them or at least managing risk.

In this case, outside experts and equipment can be brought in. A crane, and heavy tugboats from the Netherlands and Italy, got the call up. But that all takes costly time.

Still, it looks like cargo in a crucial canal is about to get moving again.