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Suez canal blocked by a massive ship

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Re: Suez canal blocked by a massive ship

#381

Post by executesorder66 »

jcpst wrote: post #119
oliv__ wrote: post #101

Tengential but I am always curious what software these huge logistics company use to manage their business. From my outsider's perspective, it seems like a best-in-class-software enabled company would have a massive advantage over the rest. Interested to hear if anyone has insights about this

I’m a software engineer at one of these global logistics companies. The market is extremely competitive. We are one of the biggest in the business, and we only capture small percent (I heard 3% before) of market share. We build event driven systems primarily glued together with Kafka. There are thousands of deployed products.

flexport? (Sorry that's the only company I can think of that does something along those lines)

Re: Suez canal blocked by a massive ship

#382

Post by throwaway0xBEEF »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #362
fumblebee wrote: post #352

This incident has already been added to opening section for the Suez Canal Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal I wonder what makes something significant enough to be added to this section. A quick scan of the page shows some interesting tidbits that aren't present in the opening (to me, more noteworthy - so far - than the ongoing blockage): > The canal had an immediate and dramatic effect on worl…

This is a big ship. There's no nearby facility to unload or service it. Its not something you bring tools in your pickup truck to solve the problem. If its not immediately resolvable with the ships own facilities, then its not clear it can be solved in less than a-long-time. Maybe years? Its 200 million pounds. It holds 20,000 units. To unload it would take building a facility on-site. And maybe a rail line to carry…

If this was a controlled flight into terrain to disrupt global container shipping, then yes, it will take more than a-short-time. Because drama for consumers of narrative and benefits for certain beneficiaries.

"The pandemic also had a deadly effect on economies: international mobility of both people and goods screeched to a halt, debilitating industries like tourism and _breaking global supply chains_" - Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development, 2010.

Re: Suez canal blocked by a massive ship

#383

Post by jhayward »

Shivetya wrote: post #292
capableweb wrote: post #23

If you go to vesselfinder you can follow the drama in real-time! Seems it's still stuck: https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000

So how long before they start rerouting, for ships that can make that passage South of the horn? Does anyone know the transit time to pass through the canal versus going around the South Africa route?

The article on gCaptain said that shippers would begin re-routes after 24 hours of closure, which was about 6:00 UTC today.

Re: Suez canal blocked by a massive ship

#384

Post by jhayward »

aasasd wrote: post #93

Sorta makes me wonder why another ship, larger than a tugboat, couldn't hitch it with a tow rope (whatever the marine term) and give it a jerk. I get that ships aren't normally expected to do that, but you know, probably need larger tugboats for gigantic ships.

Apparently the limiting question is how much force can be exerted on the ship and from what locations without damaging it (or, damaging it too much).

That's why recovery specialists are flying in. They know how to do that kind of engineering calculation, as well as all the weight & balance calcs needed to e.g. move ballast in unusual ways, etc.

Re: Suez canal blocked by a massive ship

#385

Post by codesforhugs »

akudha wrote: post #345
bobthepanda wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good deal of it probably has to do with how crazy customs gets in every single port, and how to properly insure goods. (Lloyd’s of London got its start in marine insurance.) If your paperwork is mostly driven by other actors tech probably won’t help all that much. Tech has not made significant inroads in disrupting American health insurance, for example.

Is there a reason these customs processes can't be simplified? Or is it due to some perverse capitalist reason, like TurboTax lobbying against simpler tax code?

One big factor is simply that a customs authority can dictate whatever process it wishes for ships who want to load/unload cargo there.

It's also not just customs, there are a ton of ancillary processes related to berthing - things like harbor fees, environmental documentation etc.

I know of at least one case where, as recently as ~2015, a shipping company had to keep around old machines with IE8 because that was the only way to interact with authorities at a given port.

Re: Suez canal blocked by a massive ship

#386

Post by joncrane »

andrewla wrote: post #334

Partially refloated! [1] Apparently they're going to move it aside so traffic can start to get through. [1] https://twitter.com/GlobalHogg/status/1374709733614100487

Nope, still stuck as of this post. It's easy to check:

https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000

Re: Suez canal blocked by a massive ship

#387

Post by joncrane »

_nickwhite wrote: post #372

Update: According to Reuters, the ship has been partially refloated & moved so other traffic can go past. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-suezcanal-ship-rest...

Nope, still stuck as of this post. It's easy to check:

https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9811000

Re: Suez canal blocked by a massive ship

#388

Post by spookthesunset »

u678u wrote: post #116
carols10cents wrote: post #34

In a chapter of "Ninety Percent of Everything", the author rides a container ship through the Suez Canal and relates what it's like, if this has piqued your interest about the shipping industry. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16044961-ninety-percent-...

Aren't they just a dozen Filipinos or Russians keeping the boat clean while the auto pilot makes a slight adjustment every few hours? I'm not sure how exciting it would be.

> I'm not sure how exciting it would be.

I'm pretty sure that is a feature not a bug. Kinda like servers... if something is exciting it means something went wrong.

Re: Suez canal blocked by a massive ship

#389

Post by testfoobar »

mixmax wrote: post #209
testfoobar wrote: post #127

Compare the red/black line on the ship's hull and the water line. Under normal conditions, the red/black line is parallel to the water across the length of the ship: https://www.google.com/search?q=evergreen+ever+given&source=... In this picture of the ship stuck in the Suez, the red/black line appears to tilt noticeably upwards towards the bow: https://twitter.com/marceldirsus/status/1374480496789393412 If this isn'…

All ships of this size have a number of large ballast tanks that they use to pump seawater in and out to compensate for placement of cargo. My guess would be that they've emptied the ballast tanks in the end that has run aground and filled them in the other end to rise the keel.

That makes sense. I wonder though how much difference ballast rebalancing can make on this fully loaded ship.

Re: Suez canal blocked by a massive ship

#390

Post by lmilcin »

candyyfl wrote: post #380
lmilcin wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi. Skipper here (nothing of the size of the ship in question, obviously:). Ships of ANY size are hard or impossible to maneuver when they are going slow and have a blackout. The size doesn't matter. The control surfaces only work when they move with regards to water. The ship that does not move is uncontrollable with rudder and it needs to use something else to help it maneuver. This something else can be a tugboat…

Can I also ask if it’s true that such a beast like the ever given would have as little as 30% of back maneuver power compare to forward sail?

I have absolutely no first hand knowledge of these beasts, but some common sense here below:

The engine can most likely work both directions equally.

The propeller is optimized to work in forward direction, so it will have worse efficiency going in the other direction.

The rotation would have to be limited when going in reverse because of cavitation (and maybe other structural limitations). That again is a result of the wrong shape of the propeller (when in wrong direction).

The hull will have significantly more drag when in wrong direction.

Now, engine power is defined as whatever it can put out and if the engine works the same way in both directions then power is the same also.

So you can think this way: most likely it has the same power as going forward but it can't use it and whatever it can use will be much less efficiently translated into motion.

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