DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

GS-I : Physical Geography World Geography

02 April, 2021
6 Min Read

Suez Canal Lakes

Due to the blockage of the Suez Canal, the $200 billion of India’s trade flows with Europe, North America and South America is at risk. So, the Department of Commerce has worked out an action plan to cope with the crisis, including possibly re-routing shipments through the Cape of Good Hope (Re-routing may take 15 additional days.)

More details on SUEZ CANNEL: https://www.aspireias.com/daily-news-analysis-current-affairs/Suez-Canal-crisis-Past-to-Present

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Suez Canal significant?

Suez Canal is a critical shipping artery that connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas through Egypt.
It carries over 12% of world trade by volume.
A human-made waterway, the Suez Canal is one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes.
Built in 1869, it provides a major shortcut for ships moving between Europe and Asia.
Before their construction, these ships had to sail around Africa to complete the same journey.

Why is the Suez Canal blocked now?

The vessel blocking Suez is the Ever Given, a Panama-registered container ship.
It was on its way to Rotterdam in the Netherlands from China.
The 2018-built vessel, which is 400-m long and 59-m wide, got stuck here due to a mishap caused by bad weather.
It was passing northwards through the Suez Canal in order to enter the Mediterranean Sea.
The ship weighing 2 lakh tonnes ran aground and got stuck sideways across the canal.
It is suspected of being hit by a sudden strong wind, causing the hull to deviate and accidentally hit the bottom and run aground.
It is thus blocking the path of other ships waiting to cross through on both sides.
None of the crew members was injured.
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) is now trying to refloat the Ever Given using rescue and tug units.
Diggers are also trying to free the ship from the canal’s bank, where it is lodged.

Suez Canal

Opened in 1869, it is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt.
It connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt and divides Africa and Asia.
It offers watercraft a more direct route between the North Atlantic and northern Indian oceans, avoiding the South Atlantic and Indian oceans.
It extends from the northern terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez.
It provides the shortest maritime route between Europe and the lands lying around the Indian and western Pacific oceans.

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southernmost point of Africa. But the Cape Agulhas is the southern-most point.
The currents of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet at the point where the warm-water Agulhas current meets the cold-water Benguela current and turns back on itself.
That oceanic meeting point fluctuates between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point (about 1.2 km east of the Cape of Good Hope).

Source: TH

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