The 252M, 114k ton Singapore-flagged crude oil tanker #AffinityV went aground south bound in the #Suez, just north of where #EverGiven went aground in March 2021.
Egyptian tugs are on scene.
Vessels in the southbound convoy from the lake appear to be in disarray having to stop.
Looking at her track on @MarineTraffic, she appeared to ground, get loose and is now grounded again.
Her last port was Sines, Portugal enroute to Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. She is probably light and heading to load.
Tanker #AFFINITYV is currently being assisted by the large tug Ezzat Adel and three smaller tugs.
They appeared to have removed her from the initial grounding but then grounded again a mile further south based on her AIS data.
It looks like #AFFINITYV is now reporting herself STOPPED vice aground.
The potential damage from the collision by Amelia probably has both ships assessing their situation before moving them.
Live streaming about #AffinityV and her grounding in the #Suez.
Situation resolved. #AFFINITYV is heading southbound, followed by #Amelia. Other ships should be proceeding shortly.
Based on AIS, it appeared Affinity was being set to the west and in her lightly loaded condition may have been pushed into the bank....
She was the hit by Amelia. The tugs were able to pivot #AFFINITYV counter-clockwise and get her stern back into the channel. The West side of the #Suez does not have spoil in it like the East side where #EverGiven grounded. Once turned, she was able to back out.
2/First, the issue is the lack of contracts with the current yards and the fact that nearly all shipyards have one sole customer...the @USNavy. Therefore they have to be burdened with a sea of @NAVSEA rules and inspectors.
3/Globally, we have seen a reduction in global shipbuilding capacity from 700 yards in 2007 to 300 in 2022. That is a reduction of ship construction capacity from 2000 ships to 1200. Plus, this capacity is focused on 9 companies in China, Korea & Japan.
1/The damage to USS Harry S Truman (CVN-75) has me thinking along the same lines as when USNS Big Horn (T-AO 198) ran aground off Oman and left the Lincoln battlegroup without an oiler.
What if Truman was damaged in battle and what is the historical comparison that the US Navy can look towards?
2/Much like I compared Big Horn's loss to that of USS Pecos in January 1942, the situation early in the Pacific War may provide a good example for the @USNavy for a potential peer-to-peer conflict in the Pacific.
3/At the start of the Pacific War in December 1941, the US Navy had 3 carriers in the Pacific with another 3 in the Atlantic (not counting Ranger). The US faced off against 6 Japanese fleet carriers as brought to bear off Hawaii.
How did the US carriers fare in the first half of the war?
1/I don't think the author of this article understands how the ocean can be used to fight the #LosAngelesFire #PalisadesFire.
First, what is needed is water to supply fire engines and tenders (tankers). When the fires burned through residential and commercial areas, the water pipes are opened and every structure pulls on the system.
2/Water systems are designed to operate off reservoirs, elevated tanks, pumping stations, or a combination of all. Normally, pumping stations fill elevated tanks during low-consumption periods. The tanks & reservoirs use the weight of the water and gravity to push water through the pipes.
3/As was noted by the director of @LADWP, the tanks were drained due to consumption and as fires opened lines.
The system pumps could not refill the tanks & charge the pipes. This resulted in the loss of pressure on all the hydrants, which has happened in past fires.
The US builds 0.1% of the world's ships; China 51.0%.
The issues are not just economy of scale, but how the nation supports the sector in terms of corporation taxes, availability of financing, and depreciation of ships.
Shipbuilding is critical not just for the commercial sector but also the military; in terms of construction and repairs.
2️⃣ International Freight
The only US-flag ships in international trade are receiving a stipend through the Maritime and Tanker Security Programs, along with military charters under US Transportation Command.
Most of these ships are owned by foreign companies with US subsidiaries, i.e. Maersk Lines, Limited, APL, or Hapag. Part of the building program should target to replace the foreign-built ships with US-built vessels.
The US can establish a tax discount program for Shippers that allows them to move cargo on US ships and earn tax discounts/rebates.
There also needs to be work with the Dept of Defense to provide priority escort to US ships in contested regions such as the Red Sea with the US covering war risk to incentive shipping on US flag ships.
3️⃣Coastal Shipping
Current law requires US-built, crewed, flagged, and owned (which is more restricted than trucks, rail, and air; but they still possess cabotage provisions).
There should be programs to promote short-sea shipping akin to the James River/I64 barge program.
However, the greatest hindrance to coastal shipping is the need to double-handle cargo in ports and the low cost of trucking vice shipping. What has historically undercut coastal shipping was the development of the Interstate highway and pipelines.
In some areas, we need to alleviate restrictions, such as a waiver to reflag LNG tankers into the fleet until domestic ships can be built.
A program needs to be developed to replace the aged Great Lakes fleet, the coastal tanker fleet, and ferry replacements (the Washington State system is in dire need).
Also, we need to see the application of infrastructure funds to improve the Mississippi system to make it more robust from seasonal issues (this is the 3rd year in a row that low water is hindering export of grain).
1/Day 2 of the #PortStrike and a bit of background.
There is a lot of focus on the #ILA & their colorful president, but the issue of port efficiency is at the heart of the matter.
Moving containers through the terminals is key and a main point of the US Maritime Alliance.
2/The US Maritime Alliance (#USMX) consists of port associations, direct employers & shipping lines. The majority of the Board are foreign: Evergreen (Taiwan), ONE (Japan), CMA CGM (France), HAPAG (Germany), MSC (Switzerland), Maersk (Denmark), USA Ports (Canada) & COSCO (China).
3/The efficiency of US ports is not high.
The Container Port Performance Index rates 405 world ports. The 3 largest on the US East/Gulf Coasts are:
1/The latest video release by the #Houthis is just amazing.
This was filmed after the large three explosions set off at night, as indicated by the fires on deck, and the recent photos by @EUNAVFORASPIDES as the bridge is still intact in this video.
2/This was the original video shown by the #Houthis and has three large explosions on deck.
It is believed that they removed some of the manhole covers on the main deck to start the fires off the cargo tanks.
3/This image from the new video shows the ship on fire via those ports.
Not the extent of damage is not as extensive as we see in the later @EUNAVFOR photos and the bridge is intact.