Suez Canal crisis once benefited SA
SO ANOTHER big juggernaut is stuck in the mud, blocking billions of dollars worth of shipping from passing through the Suez Canal.
This is not really new. The canal has always been a flashpoint of embittered violent conflict since President (Gamal Abdel) Nasser nationalised it in 1956.
The French designed it, so thought they owned it. The British, who also had helped themselves to camels, redfez caps, pyramids, sphinx and even Tutankhamun’s mummy – without consulting any daddy from the Egyptian desert, as an extension, entitled themselves to the loot from tolls charged to shipping to pass through the canal, an amazing short cut from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean!
Each bank of the canal became the battlefront for warring Israeli tribes and Egyptian forces, during the ridiculous 1967 War, where Nasser bit off more than he could chew.
That war caused this short conduit from the Near East, Far East, China, Japan, India to Europe and Great Britain ,to shut down for nearly nine years.
All this happened very suddenly. It was not like, “okay guys, take the strain of your mooring rope and pull out”.
This suddenness caused extreme, tortuous hardship to the ships that were jammed.
Both sides of the waterway were closed. Much of the cargo perished.
Many lives were lost. Many shipping companies went insolvent overnight .
But as usual, one man’s disadvantage is another’s boon. Ships now reverted to the good-old bad days of passing the eastern ports of Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, the then Lourenço Marques, Durban, Cape Town, yipeee!
These ports experienced real boomtown days.
Of course, prices of commodities in Europe shot up.
The cheap breyani and masala from the east was somewhat a thing of the past. Guns and ammunition to feed and fuel wars by the West in the east cost a bit more … shame!
In our own glorious South African context, Durban and Cape Town thrived. Good Hope became the new renamed street address of Kaapstad, reminiscent of the days of yore when Jan van Riebeeck challenged the turbulent, raging waters.
The bountiful spin-off from the windfall of sudden great income from this revived shipping route was felt by most white and many Indian people as well. There was suddenly lots of work available for all. The price of the US dollar fell to 68 South African cents.
It's unlikely that a “fortunate” event of such magnitude can ever repeat itself out of this particular mishap at the canal. But God knows, we are in need of such a miracle!