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This happened once and caused a loss for a week or día nd now they’ll spend billions to widen and deepen 18 miles of canal? Doesn’t this seem like a massive ove

by voisin 5y ago

This happened once and caused a loss for a week or día nd now they’ll spend billions to widen and deepen 18 miles of canal? Doesn’t this seem like a massive overreaction?

spoonjim 5y ago
The next one might be a lot harder to clear, and Egypt is completely fucked without the Suez Canal.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Not just Egypt. The rest of the world too.
  - spoonjim 5y ago
    The rest of the world can always go around the Cape. Egypt has no substitutes for the canal.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
throwaway09223 5y ago
The canal has been continually widened over time. This may not be entirely reactionary.
smnrchrds 5y ago
The obstruction was resolved in one week because of the spring high tide. Had this happened another time of the year, it could have taken much longer than a week to remove the obstruction. https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a35968841/moon-tides-helped-free-ever-given-ship-stuck-suez-canal/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a359688...
- blendergeek 5y ago
  A 'spring tide' refers to the high tide at the full moon or new moon and does not refer to high tide in the spring time. A spring tide happens when the sun, moon, and earth are in a line. It is to be contrasted with a 'neap tide' at the quarter moons when the sun, moon, and earth make a right angle. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/springtide.html https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/springtide.html
  - smnrchrds 5y ago
    TIL. Thanks. So it's a phenomenon that occurs twice per month. That's not bad at all.
    - kqr 5y ago
      In fact, the average time you'd have to wait for it is... a week.
      - lttlrck 5y ago
        not something you'd want to rely on though - the obstruction could happen at high tide.
dtech 5y ago
widening the canal has numerous benefits. Eyeballing it I think they chose this size so the current largest ships allowed (Suezmax) can pass each other with the additional width, allowing for 2-way traffic. The accident is probably just a nice catalyst or PR move.
x0x0 5y ago
It feels like an admission that the ships are too big for the current canal. You can read elsewhere about some ugly hydrodynamics of vessels that size if they get close to a canal wall. Here's an expert whose discussion is very interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ14E289jvw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ14E289jvw Also, the canal generates critical foreign dollars for Egypt. They're probably slightly panicked about the proposed Israeli canal, particularly as transit companies are (one would assume!) much more open to alternatives.
rsj_hn 5y ago
The canal undergoes improvements often, being last widened in 2014 and it will be widened again the future. The latest incident helped spur the current widening, but it would have happened anyway. The issue is the canal is too narrow for the largest of modern ships, which are much more massive than what the canal was originaly designed for back in the 1850s, thus it has gone through widenings and other improvements to support modern shipping and this process will continue.

by voisin 5y ago

This happened once and caused a loss for a week or día nd now they’ll spend billions to widen and deepen 18 miles of canal? Doesn’t this seem like a massive overreaction?

spoonjim 5y ago

The next one might be a lot harder to clear, and Egypt is completely fucked without the Suez Canal.

GekkePrutser 5y ago
Not just Egypt. The rest of the world too.
- spoonjim 5y ago
  The rest of the world can always go around the Cape. Egypt has no substitutes for the canal.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

throwaway09223 5y ago

The canal has been continually widened over time. This may not be entirely reactionary.

smnrchrds 5y ago

The obstruction was resolved in one week because of the spring high tide. Had this happened another time of the year, it could have taken much longer than a week to remove the obstruction. https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a35968841/moon-tides-helped-free-ever-given-ship-stuck-suez-canal/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a359688...

blendergeek 5y ago
A 'spring tide' refers to the high tide at the full moon or new moon and does not refer to high tide in the spring time. A spring tide happens when the sun, moon, and earth are in a line. It is to be contrasted with a 'neap tide' at the quarter moons when the sun, moon, and earth make a right angle. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/springtide.html https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/springtide.html
- smnrchrds 5y ago
  TIL. Thanks. So it's a phenomenon that occurs twice per month. That's not bad at all.
  - kqr 5y ago
    In fact, the average time you'd have to wait for it is... a week.
    - lttlrck 5y ago
      not something you'd want to rely on though - the obstruction could happen at high tide.

dtech 5y ago

widening the canal has numerous benefits. Eyeballing it I think they chose this size so the current largest ships allowed (Suezmax) can pass each other with the additional width, allowing for 2-way traffic. The accident is probably just a nice catalyst or PR move.

x0x0 5y ago

It feels like an admission that the ships are too big for the current canal. You can read elsewhere about some ugly hydrodynamics of vessels that size if they get close to a canal wall. Here's an expert whose discussion is very interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ14E289jvw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ14E289jvw Also, the canal generates critical foreign dollars for Egypt. They're probably slightly panicked about the proposed Israeli canal, particularly as transit companies are (one would assume!) much more open to alternatives.

rsj_hn 5y ago

The canal undergoes improvements often, being last widened in 2014 and it will be widened again the future. The latest incident helped spur the current widening, but it would have happened anyway. The issue is the canal is too narrow for the largest of modern ships, which are much more massive than what the canal was originaly designed for back in the 1850s, thus it has gone through widenings and other improvements to support modern shipping and this process will continue.