General Chat

How they gonna stop 'em then. Can't be done physically I would imagine.

Sharron, the Suez Canal isn't like turning from the Channel into the Solent.

It has people at each end issuing permits and regulating the traffic, so that there is an approved gap between ships. The ships all anchor off and wait their turn. If you don't get a permit, you don't go through.

Somebody here slipped up. :-| :-|

How you going to stop a bloody great thing like that then?

If the driver thinks he will go that way, he will.

P.S. I had shipping going round the wrong continent and nobody noticed!

OH agrees with you, Maggie. He has said several times that, as the ship is above the maximum size specified for passage through the canal, she should never have been allowed to enter at all!!

Nameslessone, not sure I saw that one, but when I was working in Portsmouth, the USS Enterprise visited - and had to 'tie up' outside, as it was too big to dock.

There's quite a difference between a clipper and a huge container ship - it's called an engine. These engines can be turned on, and the ship can be steered against the wind. True, a clipper can be sailed against the wind, but engines on a ship the size of Ever Given, must be pretty powerful - probably more powerful than the crew of a clipper.

Maggie

Did you ever see that really giant US navy ship that visited the Solent years ago. Really interesting seeing all the smaller ships come in and out of their on board docks.

Now if That had got stuck on Bramble Bank.......

Who knew, apart from Rollo, that it can be difficult to reflect a grounded ship. ;-)

There still is a basic principle - if it's above the capacity - don't go there!

The canal, at it's widest is 738 ft.
The Ever Given is a quarter of a mile long - and fully laden, yet some say it was affected by heavy winds. Yes, because something that heavy just succumbs to winds, it gives a little shriek and turns sideways, as the wind and sand hurt!

It was just too darned big!

Some idiot didn't check - they just chose the fastest route - wondering why 'Bob' had never thought of it before, - and felt soooo smug, and 'Whops'!

We may have to do without Aussie and NZ wine. Watch out for a price increase in wines from Europe and the Americas!

I'm dreading running out of Vegemite! I may end up borrowing from our daughter. I hope she has spares!

We'll have to forego NZ lamb in favour of locally-produced which is usually slightly more expensive than NZ lamb anyway. (Work out a reason! By the way, I know our farms are smaller but the transport costs will be lower.)

I wonder whether it really ought to affect petrol prices as Aus, NZ and Asia have their own oil rigs, refineries and supplies as do we in the Northern Hemisphere, though our resources seem to be dwindling - not enough to justify any price rise because of the Suez blockage but it will be a good excuse for increases anyway.

I ought to get a good price if I pawn my lovely opal engagement ring though! I rarely wear any rings at all so I can exchange them for Vegemite! :-D

Just like to say, the cargo ship that got stranded on Bramble Bank was, apparently, unstable before it left Southampton Docks, which led to it's becoming stranded.
Perhaps the overloading of the ship led to not only it's becoming stranded, but also to th damage to it's cargo.
Full story here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-35823182

On Tuesday 11 November 2008, on approaching Southampton Docks for her last visit prior to retirement, The Queen Elizabeth 2 ran aground on the Bramble Bank - it took 90 minutes to pull her clear.

But the Solent is nothing like the Suez canal, and any comparison is just silly.

Umpteen barrels of grease between each side of the vessel and the bank, and several thousand labourers with large poles to push the ship away, may work.

it did when they built the Pyramids!

I still think as I did yesterday morning - they may have to excavate some of the land.

IF it had not been so big and heavy-laden they may have thought about inflatables underneath - a bit hovercraft-like - but I think that would be impossible stern and bow as there would barely be leeway and If they only lifted the middle I could see the ship breaking up and there'd be massive oil contamination.

I wonder if the salvage guys are watching with keen interest.

With a bit of luck, we will all be becoming more mobile in the next few weeks, if this lockdown is, in fact, eased. There is crude oil on many of the vessels queuing to traverse the canal.

Having to transport that oil round the horn is going to hoik the price of fuel a bit.

I remember (around 1957) that a British ship was stuck in the Suez Canal
As a young child I was convinced that this meant that the ship had become wedged somehow. Which both astonished and amused me at the time (I was about 8)
Was rather disappointed to find out that this was some sort of political -diplomatic-financial goings-on. Much less amusing.

This ship contains a load of Christmas decorations & boxes of Walnut Whips.

Chuckle, Chuckle

My younger grandson laughed all the time when he watched them!

:-D

:-D :-D :-D

Cartoon in the Mirror this morning. Two speech bubbles, one each end of the ship, one saying "To you." and the other "To me".

Apparently, the ship made an 'interesting' "distinctly phallic route" in the hours before being blown off course ! :-D :-D :-D

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/suez-canal-stuck-cargo-ship-route_uk_605c6e83c5b67593e055f0e3

Watch this space ;-)

Or is someone jumping on the bandwagon in anticipation of a short-lived shortage where you are Allan?

I wouldn't put it past any of them. All it would need is for someone to have spotted a BP tanker stuck in the queue. :-0