Suez Canal officials blame weather and improper manoeuvre for blockage


Leila Gharagozlou
  • English
  • Arabic

The giant container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week probably got stuck because of a wrong manoeuvre by its captain.
"The wrong manoeuvre coincided with a dust storm and strong winds ... all of which led to the loss of visibility and the ship stranding, but the weather factors were not fully responsible for the accident," two officials of the Suez Canal Authority told the Italian news agency Nova.

The agency did not identify the officials.

The Ever Given, which is 400 metres long, ran aground in the main channel of the canal on March 23. Shortly after being freed on March 29, investigators boarded the vessel to look into why it got stuck and whether there was any damage.

The blockage caused a major disruption in global shipping and losses worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

After the ship was freed, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi highlighted the global importance of the Suez Canal.

He also pledged to purchase all the equipment needed by the Suez Canal to face such major emergencies.

The chairman of the canal authority, Osama Rabie, said Egypt would have two new tugboats – one this month and another in August. Authorities also plan to acquire the biggest dredger in the Middle East and arrange for another five new Chinese tugboats.

It was not clear if the canal authority would opt to extend a second channel south of the one that Egypt opened in 2015 at a cost of $8 billion along a 70km portion of the waterway. Such an extension would allow traffic to continue flowing even if a ship were grounded.

"An expansion for the southern section of the canal can come under consideration," Mr El Sisi said. "It's up to the technical people. We don't want to take measures just because of extraordinary situations."

How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
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  2. Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
  3. Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
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*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year

Five personal finance podcasts from The National

 

To help you get started, tune into these Pocketful of Dirham episodes 

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What are NFTs and why are auction houses interested? 

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How gamers are getting rich by earning cryptocurrencies 

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Should you buy or rent a home in the UAE?  

Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut

Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”

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Louis Tomlinson

3 out of 5 stars

(Syco Music/Arista Records)

Fixtures

Wednesday

4.15pm: Japan v Spain (Group A)

5.30pm: UAE v Italy (Group A)

6.45pm: Russia v Mexico (Group B)

8pm: Iran v Egypt (Group B)

Race card

6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1.600m

7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 2,000m

7.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,600m

8.15pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 1,200m

8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 2,000m

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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi

Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.

Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees

Director: Kaouther Ben Hania

Rating: 4/5

MIDWAY

Produced: Lionsgate Films, Shanghai Ryui Entertainment, Street Light Entertainment
Directed: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Ed Skrein, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart, Luke Evans, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Darren Criss
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

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Power: 181hp

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RESULT

RS Leipzig 3 

Marcel Sabitzer 10', 21'

Emil Forsberg 87'

Tottenham 0

 

Brief scoreline:

Wolves 3

Neves 28', Doherty 37', Jota 45' 2

Arsenal 1

Papastathopoulos 80'

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The biog

Name: Marie Byrne

Nationality: Irish

Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption

Book: Seagull by Jonathan Livingston

Life lesson: A person is not old until regret takes the place of their dreams

French Touch

Carla Bruni

(Verve)

India squads

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Generational responses to the pandemic

Devesh Mamtani from Century Financial believes the cash-hoarding tendency of each generation is influenced by what stage of the employment cycle they are in. He offers the following insights:

Baby boomers (those born before 1964): Owing to market uncertainty and the need to survive amid competition, many in this generation are looking for options to hoard more cash and increase their overall savings/investments towards risk-free assets.

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Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996): This market situation is giving them a valuable lesson about investing early. Many millennials who had previously not saved or invested are looking to start doing so now.

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Director: Shazia Iqbal

Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri 

Rating: 1/5

Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?

The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.

Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.

New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.

“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.

The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.

The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.

Bloomberg

Electric scooters: some rules to remember
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David Haye record

Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4

Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
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  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
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  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions

Henrik Stenson's finishes at Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship:

2006 - 2
2007 - 8
2008 - 2
2009 - MC
2010 - 21
2011 - 42
2012 - MC
2013 - 23
2014 - MC
2015 - MC
2016 - 3
2017 - 8