WEDGING OF THE SUEZ CANAL; A CALL FOR MORE EXPERTIZE IN THE MARITIME INDUSTRY
On Tuesday 23rd of March 2021 a massive container vessel also called a mega ship MV “Evergiven” while transiting the Suez canal ran aground due to high winds, poor visibility amongst other factors. While this has caused the shipping trade billions of dollars, loss of huge man-hours, crazy Insurance claims and standstill in shipping trade between Europe and Asia. It remains a huge cause of concern that at this time and age a vessel can cause severe disruptions to a major shipping route. In the first place, it will not be out of place to say that the maritime industry is amongst, if not the most regulated industry in the world. Various conventions and counter conventions, publications and adjustments are being churned out year after year just to maintain this very important aspect of international trade. From my findings transiting the Suez canal requires the use of a pilot, a near perfect employment of BRM (Bridge Resource Management) amongst other standing procedures. A ship pi