Tide and tugs save the day as waterway gets back to business

A shipping expert said that the grounding of the Ever Given could have been much worse had it happened further up the Suez Canal.

“There are tides on this side of the canal due to the Red Sea,” said Dean Mikkelson, a maritime security analyst.

“Otherwise, they might have needed to get additional equipment there, and I can’t see how they could do a ship-to-ship transfer of the containers, because there is too much traffic already to the south and north of the Ever Given.”

All that was avoided as a flotilla of tugs was able to free the stricken vessel.

“Tide and tugs saved the day,” Mr Mikkelson said.

The 193-kilometre Suez Canal is the quickest sea route between many Asian markets and Europe. It separates the African continent from Asia and provides the shortest maritime route between Europe and the lands lying around the Indian and western Pacific oceans. It is one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes.

The first canal linking the Mediterranean Sea in the north with the Red Sea in the South through the Nile was dug during the reign of Pharaoh Senusret III almost 3,900 years ago.

An artificial waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea was planned by French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps in the 19th century. It took 10 years to complete and opened in November 1869.

Egypt nationalised the canal in 1956, prompting an invasion by shareholders Britain and France, along with Israel.

The crisis ended after Egypt blocked the canal with 40 scuppered ships and the US, UN and Soviet Union intervened, forcing Britain, France and Israel to withdraw.

The state-owned Suez Canal Authority was established in July 1956 and runs the waterway.

In June 1967, Egypt and other Arab countries fought Israel, with Israeli troops advancing to the east bank of the canal before a ceasefire was agreed.

The canal was badly damaged in the fighting and, with opposing forces encamped on either side, remained closed until after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

Egypt regained full control of the Suez Canal after the war and it was reopened in June 1975.

In 2015, Egypt remodelled and broadened the canal to allow for two-way traffic and an increase in its annual revenue.

The route between Europe and Asia is one of the most heavily used shipping lanes in the world