Can a single ship disrupt global trade?

 A cargo container vessel mv.”Ever Given” with its “bulbous bow” stuck in the sand-bar at the port side of the narrow Suez Canal near the beginning of the Sinai Peninsula blocking all passage of ships navigating this international waterway since 07.45 hours local time on Tuesday 23 March 2021, is more than a shipping disaster. 

It has put global shipping already strained by the pandemic further in dire strait,as at least 156 or more vessels needing to pass through this crucial waterway in convoy are having to idle and waiting for the obstruction to clear, whilst more are anchored outside both ends of the Canal.

The vessel the size of four football fields, with a length (LOA) of nearly 400 metres and a width (Beam) of 59 metres, is near about the maximum size of vessels allowed into this Canal. We are told due to high winds the vessel turned sideways in the Canal in its route northwards to the Mediterranean and bound for Rotterdam. 

We are also told that any vessel this size has to be maneuvered by two Canal Pilots from the Egyptian Canal Authority on board, but the Captain of the vessel retains ultimate authority for its navigation. 

The bow stem (front end) of the vessel “Ever Given” touched the eastern wall while its stern (back end) seemed nearly lodged against its western wall of the Canal, near the city of Suez, in an almost incredible and nightmare manner. 

Efforts over the last few days to free the ship using dredgers digging the silt from the bank of the Canal and the aid of tugs assisted by high tides, to push the stranded vessel into the main artery of the Canal, have all seem to have failed. 

The Canal is blocked some 6 kilometres north of the southern mouth of the Suez Canal near the City of Suez.

The history of the Container vessel  

mv.”Ever Given” owned by the Japanese owners, Shoei Kissen KK, flying the Panamian flag was built in 2018, can carry up to 20,000 containers (TEU’s) at a time and on this voyage had        boxes on board. 

The Japanese owners have apologised for this incident, which is maintained as an accident or “Act of God”. But the question in the minds of Average Adjusters and Insurance Brokers, and particularly, according to Marcus Baker, of Marine and Cargo broker, Marsh  is that this one accident could result in heavy insurance claims. It is estimated to cover between US$100 and $200 million.

According to Bloomberg Analysis,each day the stalemate continues,it holds up goods worth US$ 9.6 billion.

Was the "Ever Given" part of a bigger picture?

We also are told that this is not the first time that the same vessel was involved in an accident. In early 2019 this Container vessel ran into a small ferry moored in the Elbe river in the Port of Hamburg, Germany, which caused serious damage to the boat, but the claim was abandoned for lack of evidence.

What of the outcome now? 

An Egyptian official has stated that the vessel will “somehow” be freed over this weekend “27 /28 March 2021” using the prevailing high tides expected and dredging the bow of the vessel from the bank. 

Some cautious shipping sources/observers cannot exclude it might take at least a week or more depending on the situation, according to Reuters.

Should this happen shipping could potentially start rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope,the southern tip of South Africa which will add thousands of miles and about an extra week of journey time, and no doubt added costs. 

That a single ship can disrupt global trade affecting supply chains of the entire world is beyond belief and a calamity that could have not been envisaged.

Pessimists have maintained that there is “no way” the Egyptians are going to literally pull it off with tugs thus freeing the vessel and the Canal.

It is highly likely that cargo Containers on board may have to be offloaded from the vessel in an effort to release the stuck vessel in the Canal.

Mitigation still possible

In 2015 thanks to the forsight of the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah-El-Sisi and the Canal Authorities,the Suez Canal received an upgrade when a newer and deeper Channel was built alongside the originally opened Canal in 1869.

According to Prof. Rooky Weitz of the Fletcher Maritime Studies at Tufts University,Alabama,USA, the old Channel can provide partial relief to the current blockage of the new Channel. Ships held up have been diverted to the old Channel to provide some assistance to the current blockage. But the Old Channel is much smaller so large vessels will need to wait at anchor outside both ends of the Canal until the main Channel is reopened.

We are informed that Convoys and traffic in both directions are expected to resume as soon as the "Ever Given" is towed to another position.

What we might have to endure in the not too distant future is that Egypt will enforce strict guidelines for the “max size” vessels that will be allowed to navigate the newer Channel of the Canal.

How has the Container revolutionised global trade?

Since the deployment of the Container ship in the 1950's, it has revolutionised global trade.As the standard size recepticle that can be quickly be transformed intermodal, from rail to truck,it has sharply reduced the time needed to move goods from manufacturing site to consumer, from one place to another. Rather than stockpiling extra goods in warehouses, business now since the pandemic depend on the "magic of the internet" and global supply chain to "summon what they need as they need it". It has expanded the availability of consumer goods and lowered prices.

But the same advances have yielded many uncertainties and vulnerabilities. The surge of orders on the internet since the pandemic has exhausted the supply of containers. The cost of shipping containers has more than doubled in the past year.

Innovative ways of global trade is now the way forward.

Victor Cherubim

 

Chasing Stigma

The rival Royal Rumble continues, as how much Meghan and Prince Harry have suffered since the comment about “how dark the couple’s firstborn child Archie’s skin might be when she was pregnant.” Is it realistic for Meghan Markle, the first coloured American person to marry a British Senior Royal in modern history, to expect no one would be curious about the skin colour of her new born. 

It is equally understandable when one is victimised, then such feelings do matter.

Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University has said, “the fact that a Black woman marrying into the Royal family in the 21^st century was novel, should tell you all you need to know”.

But as we also know, Meghan was not royal, she and her progeny could still be hounded in public life, Does this not show that she did not fit in? Arguably, it was difficult to fit in.

What does it mean to be a Royal ?   

Lived experience is there to tell us that the Royal Family is an institution. What we still question is whether Meghan was properly briefed? If she knew her role beforehand and still wanted to marry Harry and accepted her role in this institution, she need not necessarily have to be briefed in everything this institution stands for, or was Meghan more of a film celebrity. It is a well known fact that Americans are fascinated with royalty?

If it was a “situ comedy” like all such periodic reality film dramas, everything in it is has a season and like seasons, things will come, things will go. That is the essence of the comedy?

It seems that Prince Harry has been caught up in this drama?  But, the sons of the Late Princess Diana,  knew their duty to “King and Country”. Prince Harry accepted and performed his duty over many years and was willing to continue to do so in the years ahead.

As it stands now, Meghan is able to control the narrative, because she is on home ground and a sympathetic U.S. President.  However, the opposite was true when Harry and Meghan were living in the UK. 

The question now in our minds is how much the rumble matters?

Britain, like many other Colonial nations has had a past history. It has tried hard to wean itself away from mistakes of its past. It would not have a present known as the Commonwealth, if not for the fact that 54 or more sovereign nations are members of this free society, with H.M. Queen Elizabeth II as the accepted Head of the Commonwealth. Besides, no one government exercises power over others in the Commonwealth. They are amongst the world’s biggest, smallest, richest, and poorest countries.

At the same time there appears to be a “political dimension” to this rumble, relayed by Oprah Winfrey's TV interview on 07 March 2021. This interview seems to portray Britain, as backward looking country?                                      

There is the Labour Opposition, which is trailing the Conservatives in opinion polls at present, some are out and out Republican in their mindset, who want to use this episode to win support at the next election, which is years ahead.

Then, there is also the Age Gap inside UK – Young versus Old Citizens. The Coronavirus has accentuated this situation. The ethnic minorities who have suffered the most, are looking for a voice.

Further, there are the Whites who feel more comfortable dealing with Blacks of a lighter skin tone. Generally, we notice, there seems to be an “identity spectrum”?

How about some Blacks who are wanting to use this opportunity to show show how far they have been victimised in pay and conditions at work during the pandemic. 

Britain today is a cosmopolitan mix of colour, race, creed and identity. Once the fault line was race, which was considered a mark of shame in Western society. Now, it is a badge of pride. Diversity wins.

Victor Cherubim 

  

A Trip to Mars, the Red Planet

 A Trip to Mars, the Red Planet

Life on earth has been fraught with pestilences, pandemics, and paranoia over time, that man has always wanted to escape from reality into either an imaginary world of “make belief” or into another uncluttered, unconquered world. The quest for life in space has been a cherished dream. Astronauts have visited the Space Station many times, Space Capsules have landed on the Moon, but the ambition to reach to nearby planets has been a dream.

Reasons for colonising Mars include pure curiosity, economic interest in its resources and perhaps, an outside possibility that the settlement of outer planets could decrease the ever likelihood of human extinction.

Difficulties and hazards include radiation, exposure to its surface, its soil, low gravity, and isolation, but most of all the vast distance of Mars from Earth, a lack of water for survival, and freezing cold treacherous temperature for life.

The colonisation of Mars in particular, has received extensive treatment in the imaginary visions of Science Fiction, film, and art.

Organisations have at some time proposed plans for a human mission to Mars. While it was Wernher von Braun, the German born American Space Architect, who was the first person to make a detailed technical study of a Mars Mission.  

However, the most recent commitments to researching permanent settlement including research by public space agencies such as NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), IRSO, and private organisations like SpaceX and Virgin among others.

What does it feel, how does it smell to be on Mars?

Perseverance, NASA’s Largest Space Vehicle Rover has become the 9^th US Space craft to successfully land on Mars, Earth’s neighbour after the Moon, on 18 February 2021.

It is no fantasy for earthbound viewers to have livestreamed the landing of Perseverance millions of miles away, in London’s Piccadilly Circus, to have a first hand look at the Martian terrain through the images relayed by either NASA’s Mars Odyssey (MAVEN) or Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter or by European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter.

Perseverance is considered the most advanced Astro biological Laboratory ever sent to “another world” which landed safely on the floor of the vast “Jezero crater” on Thursday 04 March 2021.It was the first stop on its search for life on Mars, the Red Planet.

The Plan was to collect specimens of rocks at a spot where centuries past there was a river delta. But this could not have happened before completing software updates, deploying two wind sensors, and testing the Rover’s 7 ft long robotic arm for the first time, flexing each of its arms, including 5 Joints, over the course of two hours.

Everything meticulously controlled from Earth.

The Robotic Arm is said to be crucial to this mission as it is the primary tool the Space Scientists Team will use to closely examine the geological features of the Jezero’s crater before deciding which one to drill and sample.

All this could not have happened before years, if not decades, of planning.

We know the mission launch on 30 July 2020.It covered a distance of 470 million miles, a journey from Earth of almost 7 months. It touched down on the Martian surface at 20.55 GMT (15.55 ET) on 18 February 2021. It did its observation, and the Rover traversed the surface on Thursday 04 March 2021.

NASA Space Engineer, Rich Rieber who plotted the route of the Rover said: “Perseverance wandered and drove on the surface of Mars. First, it wandered 4 metres, then it took a 150degree left turn and then backed up 2.5 metres in its Test drive”. 

The Look on Mars today

Today we saw Mars is cold and dry with a thin atmosphere that exposes the surface to harmful levels of cosmic radiation.

But scientists believe that billions of years ago the planet appears to have been wetter with a thick atmosphere, evidenced by the presence of mudstones and sedimentary bands, able to have supported some form of life.

Victor Cherubim