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Suez Canal blockage is a signal of what's ahead as ships get bigger

The 200,000-ton cargo ship currently lodged in the Suez Canal, bringing 13% of the world's trade to a halt, may be the biggest vessel to get stuck in a major waterway

Robert Tuttle | Bloomberg

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The latest closure of this key waterway has halted the transit of about 185 ships. (Bloomberg)

4 min read Last Updated : Mar 25 2021 | 8:16 AM IST

The 200,000-ton cargo ship currently lodged in the Suez Canal, bringing 13% of the world’s trade to a halt, may be the biggest vessel to get stuck in a major waterway. But if history is any guide, it won’t be the last.

Movement of ships between the Red Sea and Mediterranean has been halted since early Tuesday when the container ship Ever Given ran aground in the southern part of the Egyptian canal. Efforts to dislodge a vessel that’s longer than the Eiffel Tower have been unsuccessful, raising prospects that it may take days -- or longer -- to resolve.

The blockage highlights a major risk faced by the shipping industry as more and more ships transit maritime choke points including the Suez, Panama Canal, the Strait of Hormuz and Southeast Asia’s Malacca Strait. Such occurrences could become more common as ships get bigger and waterways get more congested.