Explore alternative sea routes

The world let out a collective sigh of relief on March 29 when the container ship ‘Ever Given’, which had run aground in the Suez Canal, was freed by salvage crews. The skyscraper-size, over 2,00,000-tonne ship, had got wedged in the canal on March 23, blocking all shipping traffic via this vital trade route. Dozens of other nearby ships had to anchor, while hundreds of others waited at the canal’s entrances.

According to data from Lloyd’s List, the stranded ship held up trade valued at over $9 billion per day. The traffic jam in the Suez added to the already high stress on global supply chains. India, which uses the Suez Canal for trade with North and South America and Europe, is said to have suffered losses worth crores of rupees. Understandably, the world was anxious to get the ‘Ever Given’ afloat at the earliest possible as every additional day of a blocked Suez Canal was taking a heavy toll on a Covid-19 battered global economy.

So severe was the crisis that at one point that salvage companies were considering unloading some of the 18,000 containers that the ship was carrying. Fortunately, this was not necessary. The hard work of salvage crews worked round the clock and high tides helped the tugs and dredgers dislodge the ‘Ever Given’ earlier than expected. With ‘Ever Given’ dislodged, ships have started plying the Suez Canal. But the crisis is not over yet. It will be many days if not weeks for the traffic jam in the canal to be cleared.

Investigations have begun into what caused the ship to run aground. The sea-worthiness of the ship, decisions made by the ship’s captain and crew, and weather conditions are among the issues that are being probed. With companies likely to file lawsuits over losses incurred, the blame game has begun. There is a possibility of the ship’s Indian captain and predominantly Indian crew being blamed for the incident. The Indian embassy in Cairo must provide the crew with the best of legal and other support.

The global shipping business, which relies heavily on high-tonnage ships, needs to relook this strategy. Massive ships may cut costs but are more likely to run aground as did ‘Ever Given’. The incident underscores the extreme vulnerability of trade to obstructions at chokepoints, whether due to natural disasters, human errors or sabotage. Whenever these narrow waterways get choked, talk of alternative routes come up and is then quickly forgotten. Alternatives like Israel’s Ben Gurion waterway or the Northern Sea Route must be explored seriously.