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Anyone following the stuck ship in the Suez Canal? Never would of thought how it may affect the rest of the world. Small delay there is cause for massive jams once it is free. Think of a jam on a freeway. Guess we'll have to wait to see how this all plays out.
Fred
"Everyday I beat my own previous record for number of consecutive days I've
stayed alive."
'Take care of yourself, and each other.'
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I've been following.
The dredger they brought in can move 2000 cubic meters per hour. About 706,000 cubic feet of sand needs to be moved so it will take 15 hours of dredging, if they can just dredge. I'm guessing they can't. With so many containers, any shift could be disastrous, so I think they will go slow.
Between the pandemic and now this, you get a sense of how fragile our supply chain is. We've come a long way from my childhood when America was independent and we made most everything we needed, besides gasoline.
Charter Member
Globalization combined with our "just in time" philosophies has stretched the supply chain to the point that little slack remains. It is a beautiful thing, when it works as designed, but one hiccup can grind the gears in an astoundingly complex machine and bring things to a screeching halt in no time.
On the Utah project, we had suppliers that had to make deliveries on four hour intervals or the assembly lines shut down.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Charter Member
WayOriginally Posted by Dave Grubb
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
Registered Member
Well, they are very fortunate that it ran aground near landwhich will make the recovery a little easier.
I don’t understand why they don’t just winch it from the anchor ports which are presumably designed for loads in all directions. Of course , building and erecting an adequate winch anchorage will take a little time. And finding a couple of big-azz winches and getting them there. But having vehicle access from both sides should make things much easier.
I haven’t been keeping up with the timelines for the coming of the new super duper sized cargo ships, but with the Panama Canal enhancements, the port work on the eastern seaboard will begin in ernest. The dredging and dockwork (not to mention the new bridges) in the NY area alone is mind boggling.
"Back after 5 years. I thought you had died.
don"
Splitting my time between the montane and the mesas
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Charter Member
It is not as simple as you propose. There is a very real concern with it becoming unstable and laying over. That is exactly why they are cautious about pumping out the ballast tanks in an effort to reduce the draft and potentially lift it free.
As for NY---that work is done. In an amazing engineering marvel, they raised the Bayonne Bridge by 64 feet over a 6 year project completed in 2019. To add to that marvel---they maintained daytime traffic flow through the entire project.
The Bayonne Bridge blocked the largest "mega carriers" from entering the the Port of NY---which is actually located in Bayonne NJ.
This from this morning's NYT:
Some experts were more hopeful on Saturday, after the ship’s rudder was freed on Friday night, according to a spokeswoman for the Suez Canal Economic Zone. Although the ship’s rudder had started moving and tugboats were working at full force, the ship had not yet been refloated, Hend Fathy Hussein, the spokeswoman said in a Facebook post.
The president of Shoei Kisen, the Japanese company that owns the ship, said it aimed to have the vessel released by Saturday night, according to Reuters.
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Easing the bottleneck depends on the salvagers’ ability to clear away sand and mud at both ends of the Ever Given, a container ship operated by the company Evergreen, and possibly lighten its load enough to help it float again, all while tugboats try to push and pull it free. Their best chance may arrive on Monday, when a spring tide will raise the canal’s water level by up to about 18 inches, analysts and shipping agents said.
On Friday, the ship’s technical manager, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, said that larger tugboats had arrived to help, with two others due on Sunday. Several dredgers were digging around the vessel’s bow, and high-capacity pumps will pump water from the vessel’s ballast tanks to lighten the ship, the company said.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Registered Member
Bayonne Bridge dominated our board meetings there at the end of my shift. I know more about it than anyone would care to.
Of course the ship’s balance is a concern. And there will have to be simultaneous diving/dredging and all the easy stuff that goes along with it. But at least they have plenty of attachment points that are designed for big loads.
“Process people” like to make this stuff a science project.
"Back after 5 years. I thought you had died.
don"
Splitting my time between the montane and the mesas
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Charter Member
The Panama Canal can also fit the Mega Carriers now too - after a very expensive rebuild that took several years. It was the first time I spent a whole day up on deck watching as we transited the canal. It's an amazingly organized and efficient operation.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
Charter Member
All the world's problems cannot be solved with dynamite and bulldozers“Process people” like to make this stuff a science project.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Charter Member
Why not start unloading the containers with floating cranes while figuring out a solution...... Conspiracy theories has this being an intentional grounding.
Charter Member
That would make sense, to me anyway.
This is your mind on drugs!
Registered Member
In my world they can. Cutting torches and sawzalls for the delicate work.All the world's problems cannot be solved with dynamite and bulldozers
"Back after 5 years. I thought you had died.
don"
Splitting my time between the montane and the mesas
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Charter Member
My father gave me perspective on issues such as this. He'd say "Grasshopper, enough dynamite will solve any problem. It will remove either the obstruction or what is stuck. Either way, problem solved. Now, try to snatch the pebble from my hand once more."
Charter Member
I read they considered that but concluded it was both risky and would be very slow
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Registered Member
From today’s WSJ story:
One of the workers on a tugboat involved in the operation said they began pulling the ship from the side of the canal at around 2 a.m. local time.
"Back after 5 years. I thought you had died.
don"
Splitting my time between the montane and the mesas
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
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