Suez Canal…Again! ONE Orpheus Grounds And Blocks One Lane of the Canal
The Suez Canal, the vital trade route between Asia and Europe, has been hit by another incident involving a large container ship. On December 6, 2023, the ONE Orpheus, a 225-meter Marshall Islands-registered vessel operated by the Japanese shipping company Ocean Network Express (ONE), lost control of its steering and crashed into a bridge near al-Qantara, blocking the west lane of the canal.
The ship was carrying a shipment of corn from Ukraine. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) mobilized four tugboats to refloat the ship and tow it away, allowing the traffic to resume in the canal after a few hours of disruption. No injuries or environmental damage were reported, and the cause of the accident is still under investigation.
This is not the first time that the Suez Canal has faced a blockage caused by a giant cargo ship. In March 2021, the Ever Given, a 400-meter Panama-flagged vessel operated by the Taiwanese company Evergreen Marine, became wedged across the waterway during a sandstorm, halting the traffic for nearly a week. The incident cost billions of dollars in losses and delays for the global shipping industry, and sparked a legal dispute between the SCA and the owners and insurers of the Ever Given over compensation claims.
The SCA has since undertaken a project to widen and deepen the southern section of the canal where the Ever Given got stuck, in order to prevent similar incidents in the future and increase the capacity and efficiency of the waterway. However, the latest accident involving the ONE Orpheus shows that the Suez Canal still remains vulnerable to human and technical errors, as well as weather conditions, that can affect the navigation of the massive ships that pass through it every day.
The Suez Canal is one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, and facilitating about 10% of the world’s maritime trade. It is also a major source of revenue for Egypt, which earns more than $7 billion a year from the canal fees. Any disruption or closure of the canal can have significant impacts on the global supply chain, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has already strained the shipping industry with port congestion, container shortages, and rising freight rates.
