The Suez Crisis - II

The sleepy farming village of Amer overlooks the Suez Canal. This March, the village was suddenly thrust into the limelight after the Ever Given바카라�a colossal container ship바카라�got stuck nearby. It was a windy morning when the Ever Given got wedged sideways in a single-lane stretch of the canal and clogged one of the world바카라�s most vital waterways. That created a massive traffic jam that held up $9 billion a day in global trade and strained supply chains already burdened by the coronavirus pandemic. The villagers바카라�like the rest of the world바카라�have not seen anything like that before.

The contrast between tranquil village life and the busy artery of global shipping is stark. Farmers in Amer eke out a living tending to small fields and livestock, while before them pass behemoths of world trade바카라�vessels carrying millions of dollars바카라� worth of cargo. But the canal is a source of intense pride for residents of the area. They call it 바카라�our canal바카라� and the older ones still remember then-President Gamal Abdel Nasser바카라�s decision in 1956 to nationalise the canal despite fierce pressure from Western powers.

The salvage efforts have been the main topic of conversation in Amer, home to several thousand people who grow clover and cabbage and tend to water buffaloes, cows, goats and sheep. They rooted for canal authorities as they battled to dislodge the vessel. And almost a week after the accident, tug boats and dredgers, taking advantage of high tides, set free the ship carrying some 20,000 containers바카라�ending a crisis that had disrupted a global shipping network and halted billions of dollars a day in maritime commerce. The canal handles some 10 per cent of the world trade flow. Last year, some 19,000 vessels passed through it.

A flotilla of tugboats wrenched the bulbous bow of the skyscraper-sized Ever Given from the canal바카라�s sandy bank, where it had been firmly lodged since March 23. As the tugs blared their horns in jubilation, Amer residents cheered. 바카라�Mission accomplished,바카라� a villager said, reports the Associated Press.

The vessel is now anchored in the Great Bitter Lake, a wide stretch of water halfway between the north and south ends of the canal. The ship바카라�s next movements would depend on 바카라�several legal and procedural바카라� measures that the canal authority would discuss with Ever Given바카라�s operator. When blame gets assigned, it will likely lead to years of litigation to recoup the costs of repairing the ship, fixing the canal and reimbursing those who saw their cargo shipments disrupted. The vessel is owned by a Japanese firm, operated by a Taiwanese shipper, flagged in Panama and now stuck in Egypt, so matters could quickly become complicated.