Suez Canal blocked by container ship 36

[verymadmac]

It might not be an engineering issue that started it, but I bet is going to change a few specifications.
BBC piece here Link



It looks like the bow is hard aground, refloating will be an interesting exercise given the time pressure.



Canal profile is here

https://www.suezcanal.gov.eg/English/About/SuezCanal/Pages/CanalCharacteristics.aspx

 

[TugboatEng]

Palloid gear.

 

[JohnRBaker]

The Ever Given is 'stuck' again, only this time, it's not on a sandbar, but rather by red-tape. It seems that the Egyptian government doesn't think the owners of the ship are fully coopering and until inspections are done, including an examination of the 'black box'. Until then, the ship is stuck where it's at:

Ever Given Stuck Again As Estimates of Shipping Stall Total $1 Billion

https://www.newsweek.com/ever-given-stuck-again-estimates-shipping-stall-total-1-billion-1580599

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[dik]

I guess they don't concern themselves with the efficiency, or there are other reasons... really neat photos... I've never been exposed to anything like that... I had no idea the equipment was that 'tidy'.
Thanks very much tb. I just noticed that the rollers guide the tow rope onto the spindle (or whatever it is called).

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[dik]

Put the money in trust and go to the courts... easy solution unless the courts are as corrupt as the leaders...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[TugboatEng]

Yes, the level wind. Something interesting to keep in mind, for wire winches the level wind is geared to neatly lay the wire across the drum but soft lines tend to bury themselves in the layers when you pull. In this case, the level wind is geared very quickly so that the line lays in a criss cross pattern on the drum

 

[dik]

drum... ya, that's the word. Thanks... I didn't realise the cross pattern... keep the rope from embedding itself in the lower layers.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[JohnRBaker]

While this is not a marine application, an alternative method is to just have a big enough drum that you just lay a single row of cable, in this case, a mine lift hoist at the Quincy Mine in Hancock, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It was installed in 1918, and was used to lift mine cars from, at the time, the deepest mine shaft in the world. The drum, which is spiral grooved, had a capacity of nearly 11,000 feet of cable. The mine shaft, Quincy #2, had an angled (55˚ from vertical) shaft length of 9,260 feet (vertical depth of 6,200 feet) and the hoist could lift 10 tons of copper ore at nearly 36 mph. The hoist was built on what at the time was also the largest single block of reinforced concrete in the world, 3,200 cubic yards. The mine continued to operate until 1945, when the dramatic drop in the price of copper after the end of WWII, no longer allowed the mine to operate at a profit.

October 2010 (Sony DSC-H2)

This is the Quincy Mine Hoist House where the hoisting machinery was installed:

October 2010 (Sony DSC-H2)

And this shows that Quincy #2 Shaft House. Note that the steam plant had been demolished years ago:

October 2010 (Sony DSC-H2)

And here is the Quincy #2 Shaft House. Note that slope of the large section of the roof shows the angle at which the shaft went into the ground. The reason for angle is that the shafts were cut to follow the geological angle of the strata, shafts than ran out horizontally from this single angled shaft. There were dozens of similar mines in the area, and they all followed that same angle. Note that Quincy #2 is the best preserved example of copper mines in the area, which was originally opened for operation in 1868.

October 2010 (Sony DSC-H2)

This shows a typical piece of 'float copper', often found in the area. The copper taken from these mines was pure ore. There was no actual 'smelting' process, only the mechanical separating of the rock from the pure copper, which was then melted and poured in ingots for shipment.

October 2010 (Sony DSC-H2)

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[TugboatEng]

Pure ore? That must have been quite an asteroid impact.

I wonder what the purpose of the tapered ends was? Soft start and soft stop?

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

interesting stuff thanks for real life close ups.


Courts in international transport are a bit of nightmare.

I feel sorry for the crew of the evergreen. They will basically be held hostage until its all sorted out.

 

[JohnRBaker]

Yes, back in 1918, it was easier to run the drum at a constant speed and use the geometry to control the speed during the trips up and down the shaft. The speed control was basically start and stop. Here you can see part of the powerful braking system. There was a duplicate on the other end of the drum:

October 2010 (Sony DSC-H2)

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[JohnRBaker]

As for the ore, remember this mine sets just a couple of miles from the shore of Lake Superior, the largest body of fresh water the world. Four of the five Great Lakes were formed by thin spots in the Earth's crust, which collapsed and formed deep fissures (Lake Erie was not formed like that). In the case of Lake Superior, the crust was either extra thin or the collapse extra deep as magma from the Earth pushed up pure molten Copper, forced up through the gaps in this Geo-structure, thus the seams of pure Copper, and a small amount of Silver and Gold, minuscule in comparison, but there none the less (all three metals always appear together, with one of them being dominate by an order of orders of magnitude compared to the other two).

And Lake Superior is very deep.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[1503-44]

John, Lake Baikal and Tanganykia are larger. Baikal by about 2x.

And, since my grandfather mined copper with Calumet & Hecla up to the early 60's, I have read quite a bit about the mining activity there. As you probably know, the Superior region's geology is very old dating back 1 billion years and is complicated by some 30 lava flows alternating with sedimentary layers. Sometimes flowing one direction, than another. I was surprised to learn only a few years ago that the copper and other minerals actually were formed after surface volcanic flows halted and the minerals having entered the most recent sedimentary layers by percolating up from below as the Superior anticline subsided, forcing up solutions of hot water from which the minerals precipitated upon cooling. I had long imagined that they had been deposited from intrusion of molton, pure elemental, metallic materials.

 

[LittleInch]

To get this thread back on track a bit, this is an interesting piece explaining some of the issues.

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...as-pilot-error-to-blame-for-the-suez-blockage

A key one for me is that the ship in front which was reckoned to be about as big didn't have any issues with the wind...

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

What it was because of Brexit? Only joking

 

[Comcokid]

These are supposed to be winds for March 23 AM over the Suez. I found these posted elsewhere but don't know what app or website generated them. It doesn't look like the Ever Given was necessarily subjected to cross winds.

While searching more on winds the Ever Given encountered, I found this information:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...hip-ever-given-grounding-canal-chief-14506498

 

[JohnRBaker]

...Lake Baikal and Tanganykia are larger. Baikal by about 2x.

Lake Baikal is the largest by volume and Lake Tanganykia is the longest, but Lake Superior has the largest surface area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_by_area

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[1503-44]

OK Great.... We both win.
I'll bet Baikal is colder.

 

[RedSnake]

“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.“
Albert Einstein

 

[JohnRBaker]

I don't know, I've swam in Lake Superior and it's damn cold. The story goes that if you drown in Lake Superior, they might as well put your headstone on the shore because your body will never be found. It's not warm enough for decomposition to create sufficient bloating for the body to float.

Another tidbit, despite it being so far North and the water being so cold, it's very rare that Lake Superior ever freezes over during the winter. It's just that the lake is so large and contains so much water, that by the time the water temp reaches 32˚(F), it's Spring and the temps start to rise.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[1503-44]

Well that was interesting. National Parks Service says freezes twice a century. 1979 and 2014.

It seems that it freezes 95% quite a lot. Some say that's enough to qualify as full.
Some also say that has happened 5 times in the last 20yrs. Others, once. Hey, what's 5%. That's a pretty big ice cube, no matter which way you look at it.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/03/08/lake-superior-90-ice-covered/3106714002/[/URL]]Lake Superior nearly frozen over: 90 percent+. Only the fifth time in the last 20 years the big lake has exceeded 90 percent ice cover. In 2014 and 2015, ice covered more than 95 percent of the lake. The last time Superior froze completely was 1996. NOAA satellite pic from 3-7

Yahoo says 1962 as well.

Mr Google is pumping out the statistics now!
Calumet has the oldest, still in use, ice hockey rink in the world. No wonder.

https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/04/...-ice-arena-in-the-world-to-host-nhl-game.html

And ... due to climate change, Superior may not have any ice by 2040. ???