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

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 10:27 AM

BaltACD
 
tree68
 
BaltACD

I wonder if the Canal authorities will formulate a rule for the future that vessels have to be shorter than the canal is wide at its narrowest point. 

There are spots on the St Lawrence Seaway that would have trouble with that - especially with the 1,000 foot ore boats.

 

I thought the 1000 foot ore boats were 'lakers' and only navigate the Great Lakes, not the St. Lawrence Seaway.

 
The 1000-footers are confined to Lake Erie and upstream by the size of the locks on the Welland Canal.  That being said, tree's comment would easily apply to the Soo Canal as well.
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Posted by Convicted One on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 10:08 AM

Erik_Mag
If the earth was a perfect sphere, 5,400 nautical miles (90 degrees of longitude at the equator) would have equaled 10,000km (90 degrees of longitude - equator to nothpole via Paris).

Am I misreading your intention there?

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Posted by Euclid on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 8:14 AM

BaltACD

I wonder if the Canal authorities will formulate a rule for the future that vessels have to be shorter than the canal is wide at its narrowest point/

 

The canal shipping lane is already much narrower than the water between the banks.  One of the technical experts stated that the 200 ft. wide Ever Given, following the centerline, only has only 36 feet on each side before grounding. 

One expert suggested that for the monster ships like Ever Given, they could provide safety by connecting ocean tugboats fore and aft.  The newest classes of ocean tugs have rotating propulsion units that can move the boat in any direction with instant changes as needed.  So they could maintain various pulls to help a ship stay on course while transiting the canal. 

The ocean tugs are quite amazing in their own right.   

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 7:46 AM

Sara T

Now it seems ever-ything is given fine:

earlier report:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKvGKTsAoO4

Suez Canal: How to keep ships from running aground in the future | DW News

https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/casualty/suez-canal-authority-video-ever-given-salvage-operations

https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/casualty/ever-given-blocking-suez-canal-re-floated

The Ever Given, containership blocking the Suez Canal, has been re-floated, and manoeuvres are set to be undertaken to fully restore the direction of vessel.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUwWcoIlHwM

Cargo ship the Ever Given freed from the Suez Canal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNjUt7FYG2s

News Alert: Ever Given ship blocking Suez Canal successfully 'refloated' | Latest English News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP-e4os617c

Container ship blocking the Suez Canal partially freed | DW News

I believe we have all for-ever given her / it? our best wishes for future course.

Oh, here is some explanation of how shipping works today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CIgHnH-1zo

latest news: full moon tide helped to free ship and now moving

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Mo1tibl1w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ej5R4cvdg

 

 Sara

 

Funny side note: I followed one of the links above, that lead to another link etc. and ended up getting Rick-rolled. All I could do was chuckle. Well played.

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 7:44 AM

BaltACD
 
Murphy Siding
 
Murphy Siding 
blue streak 1

Here is a link to a back hoe trying to move sand away from the bow.  Kind of gives a new meaning of gnat and person size.

An excavator is trying to help free a ship stuck in the Suez Canal, but a photo shows how hard that'll be (msn.com) 

Seeing how the soil there is all sand, it makes sense to me that they would come in with some pumping equipment to wash out underneath the ship. 

Where do I send the bill for my consulting? Mischief

 

Undersand they had to remove between 20 & 30K cubic yards of material from under the bow.  I doubt that the banks of the canal are exclusively sand - tidal currents would keep the sand moving.

I understand the vessel was operating at about 13 Knots when the incident happened - 13 Knots and 224K tons creates a lot of momentum when it comes to impacing anything.

 

The difference between sand and rock is the size of the particles. The bigger particles just require more water power to wash them out from under a ship.

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Tuesday, March 30, 2021 1:45 AM

Paul Milenkovic
You think the Egyptian authorities have that outfit from Netherlands on speed-dial?

Just like the railroads have certain outfits, like for instance the crane outfit that was a major player in the cleanup of that Santa Fe Junction derailment in KC a while back. Stuff happens. Be Prepared. Etc.

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Posted by Erik_Mag on Monday, March 29, 2021 11:25 PM

tree68

Measured by throwing a chunk of wood off the stern and counting how many knots in the rope passed during a specific period of time.

Presumably updated when the nautical mile was set to equal one minute of longitude at the equator. If the earth was a perfect sphere, 5,400 nautical miles (90 degrees of longitude latitude at the equator) would have equaled 10,000km (90 degrees of longitude - equator to nothpole via Paris). The latter is slightly less due to the earth being an oblate spheroid and measurement error by the French.

MC: Feel free to step in and point out where I may be leading people astray...

Convicted One: Thanks for the heads up

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Posted by Paul Milenkovic on Monday, March 29, 2021 10:46 PM

BaltACD

I wonder if the Canal authorities will formulate a rule for the future that vessels have to be shorter than the canal is wide at its narrowest point/

 

You think the Egyptian authorities have that outfit from Netherlands on speed-dial?

If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, March 29, 2021 10:18 PM

tree68
 
BaltACD

I wonder if the Canal authorities will formulate a rule for the future that vessels have to be shorter than the canal is wide at its narrowest point. 

There are spots on the St Lawrence Seaway that would have trouble with that - especially with the 1,000 foot ore boats.

I thought the 1000 foot ore boats were 'lakers' and only navigate the Great Lakes, not the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, March 29, 2021 9:27 PM

BaltACD

I wonder if the Canal authorities will formulate a rule for the future that vessels have to be shorter than the canal is wide at its narrowest point/

There are spots on the St Lawrence Seaway that would have trouble with that - especially with the 1,000 foot ore boats.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Monday, March 29, 2021 8:31 PM

BaltACD

I wonder if the Canal authorities will formulate a rule for the future that vessels have to be shorter than the canal is wide at its narrowest point/

Wars have been started for lessor things than that!

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, March 29, 2021 7:41 PM

I wonder if the Canal authorities will formulate a rule for the future that vessels have to be shorter than the canal is wide at its narrowest point/

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, March 29, 2021 6:35 PM

Measured by throwing a chunk of wood off the stern and counting how many knots in the rope passed during a specific period of time.

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Monday, March 29, 2021 5:27 PM

Semper Vaporo

For those of us where a "Knot" is what the shoestrings get into when you are in a hurry to put your shoes on;

13-Knots converts to 14.96-MPH or 24.076-Km/h.

And for the jet pilots, that is Mach 0.02

 

Laugh

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Monday, March 29, 2021 4:44 PM

For those of us where a "Knot" is what the shoestrings get into when you are in a hurry to put your shoes on;

13-Knots converts to 14.96-MPH or 24.076-Km/h.

And for the jet pilots, that is Mach 0.02

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, March 29, 2021 4:37 PM

Murphy Siding
 
Murphy Siding 
blue streak 1

Here is a link to a back hoe trying to move sand away from the bow.  Kind of gives a new meaning of gnat and person size.

An excavator is trying to help free a ship stuck in the Suez Canal, but a photo shows how hard that'll be (msn.com) 

Seeing how the soil there is all sand, it makes sense to me that they would come in with some pumping equipment to wash out underneath the ship. 

Where do I send the bill for my consulting? Mischief

Undersand they had to remove between 20 & 30K cubic yards of material from under the bow.  I doubt that the banks of the canal are exclusively sand - tidal currents would keep the sand moving.

I understand the vessel was operating at about 13 Knots when the incident happened - 13 Knots and 224K tons creates a lot of momentum when it comes to impacing anything.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Monday, March 29, 2021 3:21 PM

Murphy Siding
 
blue streak 1

Here is a link to a back hoe trying to move sand away from the bow.  Kind of gives a new meaning of gnat and person size.

An excavator is trying to help free a ship stuck in the Suez Canal, but a photo shows how hard that'll be (msn.com)

 

 

 

 

Seeing how the soil there is all sand, it makes sense to me that they would come in with some pumping equipment to wash out underneath the ship.

 

 

Where do I send the bill for my consulting? Mischief

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by diningcar on Monday, March 29, 2021 9:04 AM

Just reported: Canal now open and ships are passing through. The ship that was stuck has been moved to a location where it will be inspected and repaired before continuing toward its destination.

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Posted by Sara T on Monday, March 29, 2021 8:09 AM

Now it seems ever-ything is given fine:

earlier report:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKvGKTsAoO4

Suez Canal: How to keep ships from running aground in the future | DW News

https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/casualty/suez-canal-authority-video-ever-given-salvage-operations

https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/casualty/ever-given-blocking-suez-canal-re-floated

The Ever Given, containership blocking the Suez Canal, has been re-floated, and manoeuvres are set to be undertaken to fully restore the direction of vessel.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUwWcoIlHwM

Cargo ship the Ever Given freed from the Suez Canal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNjUt7FYG2s

News Alert: Ever Given ship blocking Suez Canal successfully 'refloated' | Latest English News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP-e4os617c

Container ship blocking the Suez Canal partially freed | DW News

I believe we have all for-ever given her / it? our best wishes for future course.

Oh, here is some explanation of how shipping works today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CIgHnH-1zo

latest news: full moon tide helped to free ship and now moving

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Mo1tibl1w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ej5R4cvdg

 

 Sara

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Monday, March 29, 2021 12:41 AM

Another look at salvage operations.  It is complicated as the ship is flexing with every high and low tide.

MV Ever Given: What's Going on in the Suez Part 4: Nick Sloane joins us thanks to gCaptain. - YouTube

Most Containers too  heavy for the Russian heavy lift helicopters.  HAX MAT cargo in the containers may be a problem.

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Posted by Euclid on Sunday, March 28, 2021 7:37 PM

Another highly detailed and informative explanation of how the ship lost control and how the refloating must be carried out: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iyn2q6s1Sk

 

It sounds like the ship was going too fast for conditions, and also made a bad move trying to recover from running off course in the wind.  There is a lot of concern about the risk of catastrophe such as upsetting the ship or breaking it in half.  There is already leakage in the bow area from the impact of grounding.  But the leakage is confined to an isolated compartment and is being pumped out. 

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Posted by BaltACD on Sunday, March 28, 2021 7:24 PM

More about constructing a ULCC (Ultra Large Container Carrier)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3BzAjswJTc

 

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Sunday, March 28, 2021 6:46 PM

Now there are plans to partially unload the ship.  A thought.  Will the persons have actualy weights of each container so that ship does not end up unbalanced ? It would be nice if someoe who has experience in loading and unloading these ships could chime in.

Boat blocking Suez Canal to be unloaded to make moving it easier (msn.com) 

Does anyone know the status of the all rail routes from far east to Europe.  Is it running at capacity and if not how much surge could they take?.  Realize that would only be a very very small percentage of total container traffic.

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Posted by BaltACD on Sunday, March 28, 2021 6:24 PM

Some insights to the 200K+ Ton Container Ships

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2JMaJTFSvw

 

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Posted by Sara T on Sunday, March 28, 2021 1:13 PM

BaltACD 

>>The man is a cargo airline pilot and his normal area of reportage and expertise is in things aircraft.  Both aircraft and watercraft have to deal with fluid dynamics - on one the fluid is air, on the other the fluid is water.  Mix 182K square feet of 'sail' space with a 40+ knot sustained winds and you have the Ever Given.  Mother Nature overpowers the human created machine.

The canal is a tidal body of water and the salvors are making their 'best efforts' during high tides.  There is a Full Moon this weekend and the tides should be a little bit higher.  Whether the salvors will have success is open to question.<<

I have written you a pm about this.

Sara

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Posted by Euclid on Sunday, March 28, 2021 12:57 PM

Here again is someone referring to the ship being “wedged diagonally” between the two banks.  Yet this is not the case.  What is holding the ship in place is that it has ridden up onto the shallower portion of the canal bottom.  It is grounded, not wedged.

They do have to excavate soil toward the upper part of the screen to permit the bow to be swung out away from the bank, as he says.  But they also have to excavate probably a larger area out from under the ship as well to allow the ship to resume floating in that area. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE8b1GWoTWk

 

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Posted by Sara T on Sunday, March 28, 2021 11:46 AM

Another interesting voice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKvGKTsAoO4

Sara

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Posted by BaltACD on Sunday, March 28, 2021 11:13 AM

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by BaltACD on Sunday, March 28, 2021 9:21 AM

The pictures we have seen of the excavator digging near the bow of the vessel - the thing that the picture doesn't capture is that the bottom of the vessel 45 to 50 feet BELOW the level from which the picture was taken.

The digging and dredging the equipment that is needed to 'really get the job done' doesn't exist.  The further down you dig with excavators, the further away from the center point of your dig you get as the footing under the excavator, being unsupported falls toward the area excavated.  Dredges normally work a narrow area adjacent to the spoil barge, they don't have the ability to reach out the 30 meters to get under the centerline of the hull.

I have no real idea of the details of the salvage contract the SMIT has with the owners - a customary contract is 'No cure, No pay'.  Salvage organizations don't remain in business long if the don't bring cure to the casualties - the expenses incured in salvage are astronomical, and payment only comes on a 'successful' conclusion.

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Posted by Backshop on Sunday, March 28, 2021 9:12 AM

Sara T

Balt ACD

That may well be, but still he fills the classics of a man not trustworthy, that I can tell. Do you know what good a pilot he is?

I'd surmise since he was a USAF pilot who trained others and flew cargo planes for them, I'd say he is a very good pilot.  The military doesn't suffer fools.

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