Suez Canal is one of the most crucial waterways in the world. It connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and plays important role in cargo transport.
The critical shipping canal is witnessing a huge traffic jam after a massive ship got stuck recently.
It’s not even possible to imagine how huge the ship is. As per reports, it is 400m long and 59m wide and weighs 2 lakh tonnes. The Panama-registered container ship is on its way to Rotterdam in the Netherlands from China.
It is being believed that poor visibility and high winds from a sandstorm that struck much of northern Egypt this week could be the reason why the ship lost direction.
The jam was so huge that more than 100 ships couldn’t move through the canal in either direction as of Wednesday afternoon.
Being one of the busiest routes in the world, the Suez Canal controls 10-12% of the global trade. A report by NDTV suggests that this traffic can cost the world $400 million (Rs. 2900 crore) per hour.
8 tug boats have been deployed to free one of the world’s largest container ship. As per sources, if this doesn’t work out, the ship will have to be dug out.
A few images show a large excavator standing beside the container ship and it looks like a toy. This will give you the idea of the size of the ship.
This is how people reacted to the news of the traffic jam in Suez Canal.
The canal is among the most trafficked waterways in the world used for shipping crude from the Middle East to Europe and North America and in the oppostive direction. The effect of the jam on oil and crude prices is still to be estimated.
The canal is among the most trafficked waterways in the world used for shipping crude from the Middle East to Europe and North America and in the oppostive direction. The effect of the jam on oil and crude prices is still to be estimated.