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Intermodal trains may have major problems due to Suez canal disruption.

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  • Member since
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  • From: Northern Florida
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Posted by SALfan on Wednesday, March 24, 2021 7:32 PM

Believe I read late in the day the ship had been moved and the canal is no longer blocked.  That won't help already-jammed ports, but the way is open for ships bound to the East Coast thru the Suez Canal.

EDIT: I later found out what I read wasn't accurate.  Sorry for the misinformation.

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Posted by NittanyLion on Wednesday, March 24, 2021 11:39 AM

BaltACD

Understand that there is a continuing backlog of vessels at West Coast ports.

 

I'm reasonably sure there's backlogs at every major port, but Los Angeles/Long Beach is a disaster right now. 

My mom currently handles import orders for her company and they've got a group howling that they're going to miss a shipping deadline because their product packaging is stuck in a container sitting off Long Beach indefinitely.  She can only tell them "the ship can't even berth" so many times.

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Posted by Euclid on Wednesday, March 24, 2021 8:58 AM

Apparently, the ship lost control during a sandstorm with relatively high winds of 31 mph.  Perhaps the wind was blowing approximately in line with the canal, and when the ship began to lose control and rotate crosswise to the canal, the wind blew more directly against the side of the ship.  With the side presenting such a massive obstruction to the wind, the force grew larger as the ship turned crosswise to the wind.   Then both ends wedged into each bank of the canal. 

So the ship is not just run aground, but also has both ends pierced into the opposing banks of the canal.  As the ship rotated into this position, I wonder if each end of the ship created uplift of the vessel as each end plowed sideways into each bank of the canal.  If the ends did produce uplift, that force would tend to lift the entire ship and possibly break it in half due to so much weight being supported at only the two ends and not in the center. 

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, March 24, 2021 6:23 AM

Understand that there is a continuing backlog of vessels at West Coast ports.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Intermodal trains may have major problems due to Suez canal disruption.
Posted by blue streak 1 on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 10:48 PM

Giant container ship goes sideways in Suez Canal and is stuck.  Ships both sides are backing up.  Container ships to the east coast will be delayed causing possible back ups of out bound containers not boarded on ships and unable to get inbound containers

GIANT container ship gets stuck in Suez Canal, blocking ALL traffic & sparking frantic effort to pull it free (PHOTO) — RT World News

 

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