quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

I read that the animals were on other ships whose paths were blocked by the Ever Given and not on the Ever Given itself.

Correct. The Ever Given does not transport livestock.

Media = Misinformation

I wonder if they ship livestock to be processed in destination slaughterhouses which allows the meat to be labelled as a product of that country. Animal grown or mostly grown in the far east, shipped live to distant feed lots then processed there after a short time. Actual animal origin far east, meat listed as somewhere more desirable.

Kind of like I hear New Balance receives already sewn shoe parts from overseas factories, soles them in the US, calls them: Made in USA of foreign components.

I'm thinking being the people who tend the herds and flocks on these livestock hauling ships isn't a pleasant job.

Article in The Wall Street Journal.
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Suez Canal Pilots Come Under Scrutiny After Accident

By Summer Said, Stephen Kalin and Rory Jones

ISMAILIA, Egypt—With ships moving again in the Suez Canal after the Ever Given was refloated, the Egyptian sailors tasked with piloting huge vessels through one of the world’s busiest waterways are back at work—and facing growing scrutiny.

Authorities plan to more than double the number of vessels passing through the 120mile canal each day to clear a backlog of more than 400 ships that were left waiting for days after the Ever Given ran aground a week ago. Local regulations require that one or two pilots, in some cases three, must be on board to help captains navigate the narrow channel. To meet the increased demand, some former pilots since assigned to desk jobs are being sent back to the canal.

The pilots, many of whom are retired sailors from the Egyptian navy, haven’t always been entirely welcome.

In 2017, a local shipping agent complained about pilots demanding 17 cartons of cigarettes and other goods to let his ship pass. The head of the Suez Canal Authority at the time dismissed his remarks as an attempt to besmirch Egypt’s reputation.

One current pilot said demands for cigarettes and free food were once commonplace. By tradition, canal workers divide up their haul among themselves, a former pilot said.

Questions also are being raised in the industry about the role canal pilots might have played when the 1,300foot Ever Given veered right during a sandstorm on March 23, lodging its bow in the side of the canal and backing up traffic for days.

Two pilots were aboard the container ship at the time, but authorities have released few details about them, except that they each have more than 30 years of experience, according to people familiar with the matter. The current chief of the Suez Canal Authority, Osama Rabie, said they weren’t to blame.

“The two Egyptian pilots aboard the vessel were senior level and highly competent,” said Mr. Rabie, who was previously the head of Egypt’s navy.

The pair could, however, become a focus of the investigation into how the accident occurred, along with other factors, including mechanical faults and the impact of high winds. More than $3 billion of insurance is in place for liability claims against the owner of the ship, officials with its insurance program have said.

Shipping accidents in the Suez Canal are rare, according to insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, with 75 reported incidents between 2010 and the end of 2019. Groundings, like that of the Ever Given, though less serious, are the most common cause accounting for a third of all incidents, it said in a note. Water levels in the channel rise and fall with the tide, which can catch ships out in some sections.

The clamor for canal pilots’ services, meanwhile, is rising as authorities race to clear the logjam of ships waiting to traverse the channel. More than 300 pilots work on the Suez, but there is a shortage of those with sufficient experience of handling extra-large vessels such as the Ever Given, one of the world’s biggest ships.

Many of those who do have the requisite skills don’t necessarily work as long hours or as many days as they used to.

Wassim Hafez, 77 years old, is one of them. When the Ever Given got stuck last week, he was aboard another vessel heading in the opposite direction. The 45-year veteran dropped anchor in the Great Bitter Lake, a halfway point, and asked to go home until the blockage was cleared.

“I estimated this would take a long time because it was a big ship,” he said. “Staying on board the ship isn’t comfortable.”

Mr. Hafez said he still works the pilots’ customary eight-hour shifts, but in shorter stretches than he did before, one of his few concessions to his advancing years. He says he works for eight days before taking a couple of days off before working another three, followed by five days off. Most pilots are assigned to work for 10 days in a row before getting days off.

Mr. Hafez said ships run into problems on the Suez Canal from time to time, but that last week’s drama was unprecedented. He remembers a close call 25 years ago when the steering broke on an 80,000ton Turkish bulk carrier he was piloting. As the vessel swung toward the bank, the foreign captain began to scream and cry, he said. They then turned off the engines and a tugboat pulled the ship back to the middle of the canal.

This calm under fire doesn’t come overnight. To qualify for the job, pilots must first obtain a license, called a certificate of competency as master of a foreign- going ship, which requires eight years of training, according to the canal authority’s regulations. Before applying, they need three years of experience at sea; then after six months of training, they can start working on small ships. To operate larger ships, pilots have to pass certain exams. Attaining the highest level, chief pilot, can take about 15 years.

Fewer people are registering to train as pilots these days, however, and the ranks of the most senior specialists are quickly aging, despite the prestige the job confers and the growing sense of professionalism it now requires.

Canal authorities have backed campaigns to root out corruption. The Maritime Anti-Corruption Network, a global group of shipping companies, reported a significant decrease in reports of demands for cigarettes and fewer threats to the safety of crew and vessels.

LINK

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I'm thinking being the people who tend the herds and flocks on these livestock hauling ships isn't a pleasant job.

On my first Gulf Deployment way back in the 80's I was amazed at the number of dead goats I saw floating in the water. I asked someone what was the deal and was informed that they transport the goats by boat and they toss the ones that die overboard

Was on US Navy Cruiser on a Med cruise back in the late 70’s. Tied to the pier in Alexandria,Egypt we had a dead cow floating between the ship and the pier. Don’t know how it got there. Didn’t swim there.

quote:

Originally posted by navyshooter:
[T]hey toss the ones that die overboard

That’s exactly the sort of thing I think of whenever someone starts going on about how more “primitive” people are supposedly more in touch with and “respectful” of the environment than those of us in wealthier countries. It’s obvious that the money and resources for many practices that are the rule here are limited in many parts of the world, but dam’! is it necessary to deliberately pollute the water supplies they do have? I’m reminded of how Gandhi started a movement in India to try to get people to stop defecating along the roadways and making no attempt to dispose of the feces rather than just leaving them there. As I recall, it was not very successful at the time.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by navyshooter:
[T]hey toss the ones that die overboard

That’s exactly the sort of thing I think of whenever someone starts going on about how more “primitive” people are supposedly more in touch with and “respectful” of the environment than those of us in wealthier countries. It’s obvious that the money and resources for many practices that are the rule here are limited in many parts of the world, but dam’! is it necessary to deliberately pollute the water supplies they do have? I’m reminded of how Gandhi started a movement in India to try to get people to stop defecating along the roadways and making no attempt to dispose of the feces rather than just leaving them there. As I recall, it was not very successful at the time.

American ships do the same thing. I was a cadet on a Matson Container/RORO ship that transported livestock (cattle) from Hawaii to Long Beach. I felt bad for those poor cows. Occasionally some would die, and the Hawaiian cowboys tossed them overboard. This was in the Pacific Ocean though of course.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
This was in the Pacific Ocean though of course.

That I understand as both a practical necessity and the environmental impact and effect being completely different from a river or close to an occupied shore.
Perhaps the dead goats mentioned above were actually in the middle of an ocean and would quickly be scavenged, so I shouldn't make assumptions, but I picture such practices as being in areas that could affect the local population.

And those black eyes roll over white, and then... oh, then you hear that terrible high-pitched mooooo-ing

The latest I've been told is that Egypt has seized the ship and crew and is charging the vessel owner a $1 billion fine and that there is $3 billion in cargo stuck on the ship. Should the ship really pay IF it had the required Egyptian pilots from the Egyptian government on it and it wasn't a mechanical issue?

https://www.usatoday.com/story...er-given/4833205001/

$1 billion fine? Wtf? That's quite outrageous.

I reckon the shipping company might end up paying it though if negligence is found on their part and if they want their ship back anytimesoon. That ship could be stuck there for quite a while.

We can't make Suez Canal jokes anymore.



That ship has sailed.

Boo hiss

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
$1 billion fine? Wtf? That's quite outrageous.

I reckon the shipping company might end up paying it though if negligence is found on their part and if they want their ship back anytimesoon. That ship could be stuck there for quite a while.

Well......then there's all of their customers goods stuck on it, some of it perishable......It's going to be a financial disaster, for a lot of people.

It's technically still in the canal, in the land locked lake, Great Bitter Lake. It's been there since the day they got it unstuck. Originally I thought they would be just checking the hull for damage.
Could the damages Egypt is seeking be for the purpose of paying out restitution to the operators of all the other ships delayed by the blockage? Do those operators have some sort of legal case against the canal owners if there are delays attributed to the owners or their employees (ship pilots)?

SC, I stole your joke. I giggled like a schoolgirl on prom night.

Some perspective and insight into the post-grounding activity. In short, its complicated due to the number of players involved, and the numbers getting tossed around.

Better late than never...

Ever Given finally shows up....4-months later

quote:

Rotterdam Welcomes Ever Given

The mega-sized containership M/V Ever Given arrived in the Dutch Port of Rotterdam early Thursday after being released by authorities in Egypt.

The ship was scheduled to dock at Rotterdam’s ECT Delta terminal for unloading until Aug. 3 before departing for Felixstowe, England, the port said.

It arrives four months late, however, for many of the owners of the cargo on board. The ship is laden with goods estimated to be worth over $700 million. Some of the cargo includes flat-pack furniture giant IKEA as well as Europe-bound apparel shipments for Tommy Hilfiger- and Calvin Klein-owner PVH Corp. and U.S. footwear maker Nike Inc., according to maritime tracking data.

The ship got stuck in the canal in high winds on March 23, halting traffic in both directions and disrupting global trade.

About 15% of world shipping traffic transits the Suez Canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

The 400-meter (1,312-foot) vessel, which is carrying about 18,300 containers, departed Egypt 22 days ago, 106 days after becoming stuck in the southern section of the waterway.