{"id":14650,"date":"2021-04-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/03-04-2021\/suez-canal-crisis\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T18:08:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T12:38:00","slug":"suez-canal-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/03-04-2021\/suez-canal-crisis","title":{"rendered":"Suez Canal Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In News<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Recently, the cargo ship \u2018<strong>Ever Given<\/strong>\u2019 has been <strong>finally freed<\/strong> after spending almost a week stuck in the <strong>Suez Canal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Suez Canal<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Located in <strong>Egypt<\/strong>, the <strong>artificial sea-level waterway<\/strong> was built between <strong>1859 and 1869<\/strong>, linking the <strong>Mediterranean Sea<\/strong> and the <strong>Red Sea<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>As the <strong>shortest route between the Atlantic Ocean and lands around the Indian and western Pacific Oceans<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It <strong>negates <\/strong>the need to <strong>navigate around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa<\/strong> and thus cuts the distances by up to 7,000 km.<\/li>\n<li><strong>History<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It has existed in one form or the other since construction started under the reign of <strong>Senausret III<\/strong>, <strong>Pharaoh of Egypt<\/strong> (<strong>1887-1849 BC<\/strong>).<\/li>\n<li>Construction picked up pace around <strong>300 years back<\/strong> as <strong>maritime trade between Europe and Asia became crucial<\/strong> for many economies.<\/li>\n<li>In the mid-1800s, French diplomat and engineer <strong>Ferdinand de Lesseps <\/strong>convinced the <strong>Egyptian viceroy Said Pasha<\/strong> to <strong>support <\/strong>the canal\u2019s construction.<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>1858<\/strong>, the <strong>Universal Suez Ship Canal Company<\/strong> was tasked to construct and operate the canal for 99 years, after which rights would be handed to the Egyptian government.<\/li>\n<li>Despite facing multiple problems, the canal was <strong>opened for international navigation in 1869<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>French and British held most of the shares<\/strong> in the canal company. The <strong>British <\/strong>used their position to sustain their maritime and colonial interests by <strong>maintaining a defensive force along<\/strong> the Suez Canal Zone as part of a 1936 treaty.<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>1954<\/strong>, facing <strong>pressure from Egyptian nationalists<\/strong>, the two countries <strong>signed a seven-year treaty<\/strong> that led to the <strong>withdrawal <\/strong>of British troops.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Take Over by Egypt<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>In <strong>1956<\/strong>, Egyptian President <strong>Abdel Nasser nationalised the Cana<\/strong>l to pay for the construction of a dam on the Nile.<\/li>\n<li>This led to the UK, France and Israel mounting an attack on Egypt.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>conflict ended in 1957 after the United Nations got involved<\/strong> and was followed by the<strong> first instance of the UN Peacekeeping Forces being deployed<\/strong> anywhere in the world.<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>1967<\/strong>, due to neighbourhood issues, <strong>Egypt closed the canal<\/strong> to all shipping, which <strong>lasted until 1975<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The canal was the <strong>focal point of the Arab-Israeli War of 1973<\/strong>, with the Arab coalition led by Egypt and Syria.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Significance<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It is <strong>one of the world\u2019s most heavily used shipping lanes<\/strong>, carrying around 10 per cent of world trade by volume, every year.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>average 50 ships<\/strong> that pass through it daily carry <strong>about USD 9.5 billion <\/strong>worth of goods.<\/li>\n<li>The freight and cargo <strong>include everything<\/strong> from crude oil to perishables.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Goods made in China bound for Europe<\/strong> also go through the canal instead of taking the detour around Africa.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>About the Crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Ever Given<\/strong>, a <strong>Panama-flagged<\/strong> and <strong>Japanese-owned ship<\/strong> wedged itself sideways into a single-lane section of the canal, due to <strong>weather obstructions or possible human\/technical error<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It was hauling goods<strong> from Asia to Europe with its destination to Rotterdam<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>After getting stuck, <strong>it blocked the major trade route<\/strong> and caused billions in losses.<\/li>\n<li>The freeing of the vessel came after dredgers <strong>vacuumed up sand and mud<\/strong> from the vessel\u2019s bow and <strong>various tugboats pushed and pulled<\/strong> the vessel, managing to partially refloat it.<\/li>\n<li>Salvage crews were aided by a <strong>high spring tide<\/strong> as well.\n<ul>\n<li>Spring tides occur when tides \u2018spring fort\u2019 <strong>during new and full moons<\/strong> (when the Earth, Sun, and Moon are in alignment).<\/li>\n<li>In this case, the <strong>tides<\/strong> in the Canal<strong> rose about 46 centimetres<\/strong> (18 inches) helping the efforts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Impact<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Owing to the accumulation of hundreds of vessels in the region, a<strong> massive traffic jam<\/strong> has ensued near the route. It can take upto 10 days to clear the backlog of ships.<\/li>\n<li>The obstruction<strong> held up USD 9 billion each day<\/strong> in global trade and straining supply chains <strong>already burdened by the Covid-19 pandemic<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Dozens of vessels opted for the <strong>alternate route<\/strong> around the <strong>Cape of Good Hope at Africa\u2019s southern tip<\/strong>, a 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) detour, that <strong>added<\/strong> around two weeks to the<strong> journey time<\/strong> and fuel and other expenses.<\/li>\n<li>The shutdown had <strong>threatened to disrupt oil and gas shipments<\/strong> to Europe from the Middle East and raised fears of <strong>extended delays<\/strong>, <strong>goods shortages<\/strong> and <strong>rising costs for consumers<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It also<strong> raises questions about finding solutions<\/strong> to prevent future accidents and reducing the global dependence on this narrow waterway.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"height: 363px; margin-left: 150px; margin-right: 150px; width: 396px;\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/308388155008147650_image.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p>(Image Courtesy: <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/suez-canal-blockade-quixplained-7255344\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IE<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/trending\/trending-globally\/google-easter-egg-suez-canal-unblocking-7256054\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News Recently, the cargo ship \u2018Ever Given\u2019 has been finally freed after spending almost a week stuck in the Suez Canal. Suez Canal Located in Egypt, the artificial sea-level waterway was built between 1859 and 1869, linking the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. As the shortest route between the Atlantic Ocean and lands [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[30,26,34,80],"class_list":["post-14650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-gs-2","tag-gs-3","tag-india-foreign-relations","tag-infrastructure"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/5136361current-affairs.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53742,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14650\/revisions\/53742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}