Suez canal ends shipping backlog: statement
- By Agencies -
- Apr 03, 2021
CAIRO: Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said that all 422 ships stranded by the grounding of the giant container ship Ever Given passed through the canal by Saturday, ending the backlog caused by the blockage.
The giant container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week was fully floated on Monday. The 400-metre (430-yard) long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds halting shipping traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
Ships were moving through the Suez Canal again on Tuesday after tugs refloated the giant Ever Given container carrier.
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According to officials, the ship got stuck due to high winds and a huge dust storm. A report also revealed that the vessel was travelling nearly 5 knots faster than the permitted speed limit in the Canal.
About Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( In Arabic: Qanat as-Suways ), is an artificial sea-level waterway running north to south across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt to connect the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. The canal separates the African continent from Asia, and it provides the shortest maritime route between Europe and the lands lying around the Indian and western Pacific oceans. It is one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes.
The Suez Canal is one of the most important waterways in the world.
The canal is extensively used by modern ships , as it is the fastest crossing from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean . Tolls paid by the vessels represent an important source of income for the Egyptian government.
Railway and a sweet water canal are run on the west bank parallel to the Suez Canal .
The Canal runs between Port Said harbor and the Gulf of Suez , through soils which vary according to the region. At Port Said and the surrounding area, the soil is composed over thousands of years of silt and clay sedimentations deposited by the Nile waters drifted by Damietta branch.
This formation extends to Kantara, 40 km to the south of Port Said , where silt mixes with sand. The central region of the Canal between Kantara and Kabret consists of fine and coarse sands, while the southern region contains dispersed layers of rocks, varying in texture from soft sand to some calcium rocks, The side gradient of the water cross section differs according to the nature of the soil, which is 4:1 in the north and 3:1 in the south.