Written by: Mantra Pokhrel - 28020, Grade VI
Posted on: 13 July, 2021
It took 10 years and 1.5 million workers to build the waterway in the 19th century. A giant ship clogs it in 2021. The vessel has been re floated, but the disruption could linger. The Suez canal is located in Arabic Qanat al-Suways, the sea level there connects from north-south across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt to connect the Mediterranean and the Red seas. It’s depth is about the length of 193 km (120 miles) between Port Said. The canal is built for really heavy duty ships like the MV ever given which got stuck there a couple of weeks ago. The Ever Given is 400m-long (1,312ft) and weighs 200,000 tonnes, with a maximum capacity of 20,000 containers. It is currently carrying 18,300 containers. Over the weekend, 14 tugboats pulled and pushed the Ever Given at high tide to try to dislodge it and were able to move the ship "30 degrees from left and right". Then on Monday morning, after several reports that the ship had been partially re floated, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) issued a statement saying that the Ever Given had been "successfully refloated". The crisis had begun in 1956 when Egypt’s president nationalized the canal and Britain, along with France, invaded to reclaim control. But the assault failed when President Dwight D. Eisenhower refused to back the military intervention, a decision that underscored Britain’s decline to a second-tier power.
