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This makes me question that shouldn't we have another canal built? Like if so much of the world's economy depends on this route shouldn't we build an extra cana
by riverageraldo 6y ago
This makes me question that shouldn't we have another canal built? Like if so much of the world's economy depends on this route shouldn't we build an extra canal to speed up the transportation and also act as a redundancy
- flatiron 6y agoWhere do you propose building this extra canal?
- adrianmonk 6y agoCue Elon Musk promising to build a tunnel version of it for $5 million total cost, opening fall 2022.
- creaturemachine 6y agoOf course everything has to be repacked into little tubes and back into containers on the other end, but let's not let these things get in the way of a solid plan. Elon Musk!
- onei 6y agoIt's a lot further to dig, but the next best thing would be to dig from the Persian gulf through Iraq, Syria and probably Lebanon. Not forgetting half the Persian Gulf is Iran. It's not exactly the most stable geopolitical area.
- dvirsky 6y agoI'm not sure there's a path that's flat enough to make it practical even if everything else falls into place somehow.
- InitialLastName 6y agoA quick look suggests that the Tigris is mostly navigable up to Baghdad, which would get you halfway there. As an alternative (and ignoring the obviously substantial geopolitical concerns), is there a geographic reason not to dig a canal on the other side of the Sinai from, say, Aqaba to Rafah? If you had to dig that far, it would seem to be the next best option.
- onei 6y agoIt's kind of hard to tell, but it looks like the Suez canal was on super flat land and I recall most of Sinai is desert. The Israel-Egypt border doesn't look that flat based on the colouring on the leading image of [1]. 1. https://www.npr.org/2007/06/04/10619929/six-day-war-shaping-the-modern-middle-east https://www.npr.org/2007/06/04/10619929/six-day-war-shaping-...
- InitialLastName 6y agoI mean, the alternative proposal was a canal through the ~3rd most violent region on the planet.
- onei 6y agoAbsolutely, I imagine the insurance alone would make the Persian Gulf route unviable. Pirates is one thing, but governments confiscating boats would be a huge disincentive. The other side of the Sinai is probably much more palatable even if Egypt and Israel aren't best buddies.
- InitialLastName 6y agoNot to mention the terrorism/sabotage/non-state actor destruction opportunities that route would present that are moderately prevented on the Red Sea side (if you can get past the Horn of Africa). I can't see Egypt approving an alternate canal that Israel would have any control over, but I could absolutely see Israel going in on a chance to a) take business from Egypt and b) add a defensive feature along that border.
- azernik 6y agoBoth a) and b) would require a real increase in tensions. Israel and Egypt have a cold peace, with several common enemies/interests; the prospect of a direct military confrontation is nil, and neither side will go out of their way to harm the other economically.
- matkoniecz 6y agopartially done already: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal#Bypass_expansion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal#Bypass_expansion
- adamweld 6y agoI think you massively underestimate the cost (land, machinery, labor, upkeep) of undertaking such a project.
- colejohnson66 6y agoWe did it with the Panama Canal a century ago. Granted, the Suez Canal is ~190km compared to the Panama Canal at ~80km, but it is possible.
- jandrese 6y agoIt should be pointed out that the northern part of the canal has a second canal running parallel. The southern portion is the only part that has only a single passage. Political instability is definitely a contributing factor to the fragility of the southern corridor.
- adrianmonk 6y agoI'm a layman, but it seems like there are probably other preventative measures that are way cheaper. A Bloomberg article (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-27/how-a-desert-wind-in-suez-canal-blew-global-trade-off-course https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-27/how-a-des...) says the speed limit was 7.6 to 8.6 knots but the Ever Given was traveling at 13.5 knots. So maybe they need to start enforcing that limit. Reportedly this was during high winds, so they could also reduce the speed limit even further in those conditions. Or they could have Suez specialists be the ones piloting large ships through the canal rather than the ship's normal crew. (As I understand it, that's pretty standard for harbors. Not sure if the Suez already does that.) Or maybe there's a technology solution, something like stability control for cars, except it's for ships in narrow canals.
- lolc 6y agoAs is standard for canal transit, the Evergiven was piloted by a Suez pilot at the time of the accident. Because this ship's main steering force comes from the rudder, it has more force when it goes faster. Maybe they even accelerated to counter the strong winds.
- prebrov 6y agoNavigating canals and major harbours requires a pilot. Pilot was on board, but there seems to have been some kind of conflict between Master and Pilot that resulted in high tension environment on the bridge. Ever Given Master’s statement is published here, and has been circulating among the crews for a few days: http://www.maritimebulletin.net/2021/03/28/ever-given-latest-heavy-grounding-root-cause-short-discourse-into-some-canal-habits/ http://www.maritimebulletin.net/2021/03/28/ever-given-latest... So, some weird drama. If this is true, however, this would be a gross misconduct of behalf of the Pilot.
- lolc 6y agoI don't see how the report in the linked article is related to Ever Given. It certainly isn't of the fateful trip because it's about a southbound journey.
- rvp-x 6y agoIsrael at some point was considering setting up a rail track between Eilat and the rest of the country. The main benefit of doing so is that cargo ships could unload and Eilat (red sea) and have cargo transported to a port in the mediterranean sea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_railway_to_Eilat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_railway_to_Eilat That plan was frozen after the Egypt-Israel peace agreement.