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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Julius Wong who wrote (169941)	3/27/2021 6:03:39 PM
From: TobagoJack	1 Recommendation Recommended By ggersh Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 219422

For all that may matter suspect the canal blockage incident was arranged for by state-level actor as a trial-run Could be any one of too many parties, prime suspects group be the usual, USA Russia Israel Iran Saudi Arabia Other possibilities China / Taiwan India Pakistan Britain France Japan Australia N Korea Remote but possible S Africa All of the above would have motives of own or doing a favor for others Very interesting Let us wait for the inevitable investigation, which if genuine investigation, would be one sorting of the above did it, and if whitewash, suggest another sorting did it.

To: Julius Wong who wrote (169941)	3/27/2021 6:08:10 PM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 219422

India might suspect China, and China might reckon India Pakistan could have done a sharp move financialexpress.com China’s rail projects: A stratagem of statecraft The String of Pearls and the steel choker are nothing but the dragon’s coils around India: Be it road, railway or maritime links along and inside Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, China is busy developing extensive multi-modal connectivity all along India’s neighbourhood, viewed, not entirely without reason, as India’s containmentChina-assisted railway projects in the region, like the Belt and Road Initiative in general, have been widely described as China’s ‘debt-trap diplomacy’Amidst the prolonged face-off between Indian and Chinese militaries on the country’s northern borders, China’s announcement on the side-lines of its parliamentary annual session about the construction of the $48-billion, 1,011-km new railway line to connect Chengdu (the capital of its Sichuan province) with Linzhi or Nyingchi (close to Tibet’s border with Arunachal Pradesh) is not without a strategic intent. Be it road, railway or maritime links along and inside Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, China is busy developing extensive multi-modal connectivity all along India’s neighbourhood, viewed, not entirely without reason, as India’s containment. Realising the strategic significance of the railways as a lifeline of its economic and military might, transcontinental railway connectivity has been China’s unique stratagem of statecraft. At a pace and extent unknown in history, China has channelled very large investments in the expansion and revitalisation of its railways, including the new Eurasian Land Bridge akin to the fabled Silk Route through its Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany. Related News Uncertainty over recovery grows Winning against crop-stubble burning All around India, China shares land borders with the five SAARC countries, looks over the Chicken’s Neck at a sixth, and has a long border with Myanmar. China’s formidable presence in terms of railway and road projects in India’s north is typified by the world’s highest 1,142-km Golmud-Lhasa railway line, opened in July 2006. A new 252-km line from Lhasa to Xigaze, Tibet’s second largest city, opened in 2014 is but a precursor to a 400-km extension not only to Nyalam, on the border with Nepal, and a probable further 120-km link to Kathmandu, but also to Dromo, close to Bhutan and Sikkim, and further on to Linzhi/Nyingchi on the doorsteps of Arunachal Pradesh. Myanmar represents a vital missing link between the possible land-bridge connecting South Asia and South-West China, onwards to Europe. The 232-km Lashio-Muse/Ruili railway line that China builds would provide a strategic link through an extensive railway network across Myanmar. Beset with its Malacca dilemma, China has feverishly built a 1,100-km-long pipeline to tap the rich Shwe gas fields from the Kyaukpyu deep sea port on Myanmar’s Arakan coast to Kunming in Yunnan province. China’s development assistance to Bangladesh is likely to include construction of the second Padma Bridge and a 130-km railway line from Chittagong to Gundam on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. On India’s eastern flank, as Professor Wang Mengshu at the Beijing Jiaotong University explained, China keenly plans to rail-connect Kunming to Yangon in Myanmar through a 1,920-km-long railway line, while pursuing the ambitious SKRL (Singapore-Kunming Rail Line) running through Thailand and Laos to Singapore. The 414-km Vientiane-Boten railway line due commissioning in 2022 is estimated to cost $6 billion, almost one-third of Laos’s GDP! China is helping Thailand have a 250-km high-speed railway connecting Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima, and extended to Nong Khai to link to Laos as part of the SKRL. In the south, as part of its ‘String of Pearls’ strategy of links with regional maritime nations, China financed nearly all of Sri Lanka’s big infrastructure projects—a new seaport at Hambantota, an oil storage facility, a new airport, a thermal power plant, an expressway, and a special economic zone at Mirigama near Colombo, besides rebuilding the main roads in the war-ravaged north and east. On India’s western flank, China has planned strategic linkages to Pakistan, Iran and all across the Central Asia, incorporating the Gilgit-Baltistan tract in the PoK into its Xinjiang’s logistics grid for an unfettered road and rail access to the Gulf, expanding the Karakoram highway and planning a 900-km railway line from Gwadar port in Balochistan on Pakistan’s south-west coast close to the Straits of Hormuz to join the line along Koh-e-Taftan (on the Iranian border) to Spezand-Quetta-Chaman (on Afghanistan border) onwards through the Khunjerab Pass in the Karakoram to Kashgar in China, which is connected to Xigaze, already rail-linked to Lhasa. China’s frenetic development of infrastructure in Central Asian Republics (CARs) signifies its long-term strategic and economic stakes in the region, aptly described by Chinese General Liu Yazhou as “the thickest piece of cake given to the modern Chinese by the heavens.” Extensive railway infrastructure has revolutionised Eurasian transit regime, especially across Kazakhstan, and the 268-km link from Kashi in western China through southern Kyrgyzstan to Andizhan in Uzbekistan, not to talk of the eight new lines in Iran, including the 370-km Qazvin-Rasht-Astara line forming a north-south corridor to Azerbaijan and Russia. Today, China operates regular containerised freight trains to several European destinations via CARs, Iran and Turkey. Chinese footprints extend to most of the ASEAN railway systems. Indonesia has the $5.5-billion 150-km ‘high-speed’ railway link being built between Jakarta and Bandung. The 257-km railway line from Bat Doeng near Phnom Penh to the border near Loc Ninh is proposed to meet the 128-km line to Ho Chi Minh City. China is already linked by the railways to Vietnam by the 195-km dual-gauge (1,435-mm/1,000-mm) line between Hanoi and Dong Dang. The $27-billion East Coast Rail Line project in Malaysia promoted during the Najib Razak regime, annulled by his successor Mahathir Mohamad, is being renegotiated. Most of China-assisted railway projects in the region, like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in general, have been widely described as China’s ‘debt-trap diplomacy’, binding developing countries to China through accumulated infrastructure-related debt. In no way can the high cost China-aided railway lines being built in Laos, Cambodia or Thailand be financially viable. Beijing pressured a debt-trapped Tajikistan to hand over 1,158 sq-km territory as it owed China $1.2-billion out of a total $2.9-billion debt. The ultimate takeover by China of Hambantota port complex in Sri Lanka is well known. Like its trains clocking the world’s highest speeds, China has sprinted ahead in a bid to plant its footprints on developing countries and influence peoples. Pursuing President Xi Jinping’s ‘grand political-economic project’, the BRI, China has been dangling sweet terms with a fistful of dollars enticing countries where it desired to bulk up its presence and stimulate demand for its goods, capital and labour. Be it the $60-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or myriad infrastructure projects in India’s neighbourhood, these provide China icing on the cake, serving as they do the PRC’s vaulting strategy to contain and intimidate India. The author is senior fellow, Asian Institute of Transport Development, Delhi. Views are personal

To: Julius Wong who wrote (169941)	3/27/2021 6:13:48 PM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 219422

Japan and Korea might suspect Russia and China sputniknews.com Major Shipping Company Reports Surge in Requests for Transport Via Russia Amid Suez Canal Pileup Customers of Fesco Transport Group, a major Russian intermodal shipping operator, have begun requesting alternative delivery options for their Asia-Europe transport needs, a senior company official has revealed. “We are already seeing requests from customers who previously only shipped through the Suez Canal, and now are looking at an alternative for the transport of goods from Asia through Russia,” German Maslov, vice president of Fesco’s liner and logistics division, has told reporters, adding that the company is already working on solutions.Maslov clarified that the company is able to arrange transportation via overland-only methods, as well as multimodal options – such as sea-based transport from Japan, South Korea or other Asia and Pacific region nations to the Vladivostok Port, and from there via rail to Europe. “Fesco alone sends 30-35 container trains daily,” Maslov said, noting that Russian Railways’ infrastructure has coped well with growing freight traffic levels. Headquartered in Moscow, Fesco is known to provide a variety of shipping options for shipping goods from Asia to Europe, with its ‘Fesco Baltic Shuttle’ promising delivery from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg or Moscow in 11 days flat. For destinations further west, the company’s ‘Trans-Siberian Landbridge’ promises delivery from China, Japan or Korea to terminals in the EU in 19 days. For comparison, it takes container ships between 30-33 days to travel from port cities in Asia to destinations in northern Europe. The traditional advantage of ship-based transportation is its volume and price, with shipping goods via waterways known to be considerably cheaper than ground-based transportation – particularly when it is necessary to transfer goods between various modes of transport. China has launched an ambitious programme aimed at bringing down the costs of overland transport, with its grand Silk Road initiative including a northern rail-based component via Russia, and a southern analogue via Central Asia and Turkey. Map shows New Silk Road. China is utilizing six economic corridors connecting the Middle Kingdom to three continents. Map source: https://t.co/yvrJ6ZlAWX Peter Frankopan's awesome book on the issue: https://t.co/2yIgJgzdwO pic.twitter.com/PhB0iyjMoo — Simon Kuestenmacher (@simongerman600) February 22, 2020 At the same time, Russia has also committed major resources to shoring up its Arctic presence, with plans to create the so-called Northern Sea Route – a prospective sea-based transport artery for the shipment of sea-based cargoes between Europe and Asia at record speeds of as little as 19 days. The project has recently garnered the attention of the US military. In January, outgoing Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite announced plans for South China Sea-style ‘freedom of navigation’ patrols in Russia’s Arctic maritime zones. Last month, an LNG tanker travelled from Sabetta on Russia’s northern coast to Jiangsu, China and back, demonstrating the feasibility of the route. On Tuesday, The Ever Given, a Panamanian-flagged, Japanese-owned Golden-class container ship, ran aground in the 151st km of the Suez Canal while en route from Malaysia to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, rendering the canal inoperable. Strong winds were blamed for swinging the 224,000 tonne, nearly 400 meter-long cargo ship into the canal’s eastern wall, its stern lodged against the western wall. About 12 percent of all global trade passes through the Suez Canal daily, with hundreds of vessels stuck in a traffic jam stretching miles in the wake of the accident involving the Ever Given. On Friday, shipping news outlet Lloyd’s List estimated that the Ever Given is holding up a whopping $400 million an hour, with over $9.5 billion in goods passing through the canal on a daily basis. Sent from my iPad

To: Julius Wong who wrote (169941)	3/27/2021 6:18:25 PM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 219422

USA might suspect Russia / China China might suspect USA Russia could have done it, and if not, suspect Iran nationalinterest.org A Russian-Chinese Partnership Against America? China and Russia consider themselves great powers, and there is agreement in both Beijing and Moscow on cooperating to limit or constrain America’s ability to dominate international relations and challenge their sovereignty. CHINA AND Russia consider themselves great powers, and there is agreement in both Beijing and Moscow on cooperating to limit or constrainAmerica’s ability to dominate international relations and challenge their sovereignty. Moscow and Beijing are committed to multipolarity and a spheres of interest approach, where each state can regulate its periphery without U.S. interference. This close partnership will likely continue as long as Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin remain in office, and it is probably durable enough to survive if either or both of these leaders steps down or dies. Both have arranged for their rule to continue—indefinitely in the case of Xi, and to 2036 in the case of Putin, assuming he decides to stay in office that long. Each regime is acting as a pragmatic, nationalist great power, and each sees its interests as far more compatible with the other power than with the United States. Russian and Chinese adherence to global rules is selective and cynical, though international law and institutions can be manipulated to frustrate American foreign policy goals. The two often vote together in the United Nations, for example, using their veto to counter U.S. and European Security Council resolutions on Syria. In 2018, Russian and Chinese diplomats discussed coordinating on the Middle East and agreed to maintain a dialogue on a range of issues in the region. The Middle East presents opportunities and security concerns for Russia and China as the United States disengages. Both opposed Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and have taken advantage of the situation by negotiating closer military and economic cooperation with Tehran. More broadly in the Middle East, China became the region’s largest investor in 2016, and in the following year established its first overseas base in Djibouti. Russia is engaged diplomatically across the region; is selling weapons to Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Libya, the UAE, and Turkey; and recently concluded a twenty-five-year agreement for a naval base in Sudan to complement its base at Tartus, in Syria. In other regions, the two countries may not be cooperating openly, but their implied support for each other’s aggression narrows Washington’s policy options. Beijing has refrained from criticizing Moscow over the annexation of Crimea and violating Ukraine’s sovereignty, for example, while Moscow implicitly supports China’s growing presence in the South China Sea. China, with its large investments and trade interests, has far more leverage on the African continent than Russia, which is limited largely to providing weapons and mercenaries, the latter through Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group. Moscow and Beijing may not be actively strategizing together, yet the two are filling a vacuum resulting from American neglect. Similarly, in Latin America, each is pursuing a separate agenda, with Russia selling arms and concluding energy deals while Chinaimports commodities, invests in infrastructure, and promotes cultural and educational exchanges. Both support independent-minded governments—in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua—and seek to erode American influence in the hemisphere. Russia’s “return” to South Asia, especially the renewed emphasis on India and new developments with Pakistan, has the potential to increase tensions with Beijing. Moscow continues to promote the idea of a Russia-China-India triangle, the brainchild of former Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov—to counterbalance the United States and its alliances. To this effect, Russia attempted to broker an agreement between India and China over tensions along the Actual Line of Control on the sidelines of the 2020 Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Moscow. Russia’s goal may be to enmesh China in a web of agreements and institutions that would constrain its efforts at establishing hegemony in South and Central Asia. However, Russia is contending with the United States and its Indo-Pacific strategy for influence in New Delhi and has been selling high-tech weaponry to India to strengthen the bilateral relationship. In addition, Russia is building political and trade ties with Southeast Asia, hedging against excessive reliance on China. A rising China will likely challenge the United States for global hegemony, which could result in armed conflict. If this occurs, it is unlikely that Russia would back China militarily. It is even less likely that China would actively support Russia in the event of a conflict in Europe. Should conflict break out in one region, though, Washington would be hard-pressed to deal effectively with a crisis in the second. A key strength for the United States, however, is its network of alliances in Europe and the Pacific; neither Russia nor China can match the United States on this power dimension. If the United States continues to neglect or alienate its allies it will seriously degrade America’s ability to respond to challenges from Russia or China in their respective regions. In a clear departure from Trump’s America First approach, the Biden administration has announced plans to restore close relations with traditional American allies in Europe and Asia. Under President Trump, U.S. leadership of the liberal international order eroded dramatically. China has benefited more from these postwar economic arrangements than has Russia, and Beijing seeks merely to modify such institutions as the IMF and World Bank to suit China’s long-term interests. By contrast, Russian leaders believe the current international order is used by Washington to keep Russia weak. Both countries reject the political dimension of the liberal international order that favors human rights, humanitarian intervention, and democracy promotion. Beijing seeks modification of the international order on its terms; Russia frequently engages in disruption to weaken the United States. While a Biden presidency may reinvigorate American support for liberal internationalism, the global rise of populism and nationalism indicates the zeitgeist may be slipping toward a more authoritarian and statist model of governance. CHINA IS adept at economic statecraft, far more so than the United States, and is using its position as the leading economic power (measured in purchasing power parity) to undercut American influence globally. The massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is central to this effort. Through BRI, Beijing can leverage trade, investment, and infrastructure development supplemented by modest increases in soft power to challenge America’s post-Cold War dominance. Russia plays a small but significant role in this strategy. The Russian-Chinese economic relationship has expanded in recent years and will likely continue to grow modestly. In 2019, bilateral trade was over $110 billion, although trade declined in 2020 as a result of overall slowdowns from COVID-19 restrictions. There are distinct complementarities in the relationship: Russia exports oil, natural gas, other raw materials, and weapons to China, while China exports mostly finished goods to Russia. This trade structure is not likely to change much in the near future. And Russia is far more dependent economically on China than the reverse; in 2018 China accounted for 15.5 percent of Russia’s total trade turnover, while Russia accounted for just 0.8 percent of China’s. The network of oil and gas pipelines constructed over the past decade will link the countries’ economies for the next thirty years, creating a web of interdependence. According to the Energy Information Administration, China’s demand for petroleum will continue to grow over the next five years, as will demand for less-polluting natural gas. The Power of Siberia natural gas pipeline, in operation since December 2019, and a planned second parallel line will more than double the capacity of Russian gas exports to China. However, the importance of the energy relationship should not be overstated. Chinese crude oil imports are fairly diversified—in 2019 only 15 percent of China’s oil imports came from Russia, second to Saudi Arabia (at 16 percent)—and China produces fully one-third of its petroleum needs domestically. Oil imports from Russia account for just under two percent of China’s total primary energy consumption, and China has eighty days of supply stored in its strategic petroleum reserve. Natural gas supplies are also quite diversified, with rising domestic production and a range of import partners. Moscow hopes to benefit from China’s Belt and Road Initiative by serving as a transportation corridor or land bridge between Europe and Asia. In 2015, Putin and Xi agreed to a partnership between BRI and Russia’s Eurasian Economic Community, but little progress has been made to date. Chinese firms have declined almost all Russian proposals for cooperation on projects, and Moscow understands that BRI may not always serve Russian interests. But Moscow welcomes Chinese investment in Eurasia while pursuing a more diversified economic policy in the Asia-Pacific. One key development will be the growth of Arctic trade as climate change facilitates greater use of the Northern Sea Route. China seeks to expand shipping routes through the Arctic, and Russia has the icebreakers to keep the sea lanes open for Chinese ships. But tensions exist—Moscow resents Chinese claims to be a “near Arctic” state and prefers to be the dominant power in the Arctic, which is seen as the main resource base for future economic growth. In the Russian Far East, the two countries have finalized their borders and are cooperating on major oil and gas projects, yet Chinese nationalists still resent the “unequal treaties” of the mid-nineteenth century that ceded “Outer Manchuria” to Russia, evident in the negative social media reaction to Vladivostok’s 160th-anniversary celebrations. Sent from my iPad

To: Julius Wong who wrote (169941)	3/27/2021 6:21:33 PM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 219422

Europe might suspect any number of players including Russia and USA, and even UK google.com and everyone can suspect everyone else google.com

To: Julius Wong who wrote (169941)	3/27/2021 6:24:13 PM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 219422

Germany can suspect Japan Japan can suspect Korea Or China Or USA autoblog.com Ship blocking the Suez Canal: What it means for automakers, oil prices If it's stuck for weeks, German automakers in particular could face disruptions Associated Press Mar 27th 2021 at 11:00AM The cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal is holding up traffic that carries nearly $10 billion worth of goods every day, so a quick clearing of the logjam is key to limiting the economic fallout. Efforts continued Thursday to dislodge the Ever Given container ship and restore traffic on the critical man-made waterway that connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and provides a shipping shortcut between Europe and Asia. Several large container ships were seen lined up in Port Said on Friday as the 'Ever Given' ship continues to block traffic in the Canal after running aground. The 400-meter long Ever Given has been stuck in the canal since Tuesday, and efforts are under way to free the vessel although the process may take weeks amid bad weather. The Suez Canal is one of the world's busiest waterways and the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. Reeling from the blockage in the Suez Canal, shipping rates for oil product tankers have nearly doubled this week, and several vessels were diverted away from the vital waterway as a giant container ship remained wedged between both banks. The suspension of traffic through the narrow channel linking Europe and Asia has deepened problems for shipping lines that were already facing disruption and delays in supplying retail goods to consumers. More than 30 oil tankers have been waiting at either side of the canal to pass through since Tuesday, shipping data on Refinitiv showed. How vital is the canal to shipping?About 10% of all global trade flows through the 120-mile-long (193-kilometer-long) canal, which allows tankers and container ships to avoid a long trip around the southern tip of Africa. The iconic shipping journal Lloyd’s List estimates that goods worth $9.6 billion pass through the canal every day. Lloyd’s says about $5.1 billion of that traffic is westbound and $4.5 billion is eastbound. About one-fourth of that traffic is on container ships — like the one that is currently burrowed into one side wall of the canal. Lloyd’s says more than 50 ships traverse the canal on an average day, carrying 1.2 billion tons of cargo. What effect will this have on supply chains?When it comes to shipping goods from Asia to Europe, there are virtually no alternatives such as rail or truck transportation, said Sharat Ganapati, an economics professor at Georgetown University. The blockage will delay a range of parts and raw materials for European products such as cotton from India for clothes, petroleum from the Middle East for plastics, and auto parts from China, he said. “The fact that you have the most pivotal node in the trading network being blocked is going to have important welfare effects around the world,” said Woan Foong Wong, an economics professor at the University of Oregon. There will be less direct impact on the United States, which receives most shipments from Asia on the West Coast. Still, imports from Europe may be delayed, and the blockage will prevent empty shipping containers from being returned to Asia, adding to a container shortage caused by rising demand for consumer goods during the pandemic. “If you get a bump in one place, that is going to percolate through the system,” Ganapati said. “It is going to take a while to get things un-gummed up.” Is the supply chain in trouble?The Suez situation could compound issues for a supply chain already under pressure from the pandemic and a surge in buying. Virus-related restrictions have trapped crews on merchant ships. Congested ports have led to container ships anchoring off the California coast, unable to dock and unload their goods. Shortages of semiconductors and rare-earth elements have plagued manufacturers of cars and other consumer products. “We have lots of things indicating a vulnerable supply chain at risk for disruptions, and now you put one more thing on top of that,” said Julie Swann, a logistics expert at North Carolina State University. How will consumers be affected?It's possible that U.S. consumers will feel some impact if shipping is disrupted for more than a few days. Finished products from Asia to the United States go over the Pacific. However, some components for products that are assembled in Europe and shipped to the U.S. could be delayed by the canal closure. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said the canal blockage likely won’t have much impact on the U.S. or global economies unless it drags on for weeks or months. It may push up oil prices, “but we are not talking dollars on the barrel, we are talking pennies on the barrel,” Zandi said. Germany's economy could suffer, though, if the blockage delays the shipment of auto parts to that company's large car manufacturers, Zandi said. And Spain, Italy, and France could see higher gas prices because they rely on oil shipments through the canal, Ganapati said. What about oil shipments?About 1.9 million barrels of oil a day go through the canal, according to Lloyd’s. That’s about 7% of all seaborne oil. The closure could affect shipments of oil and natural gas from the Mideast to Europe. S&P Global Platts Analytics said about 1 million barrels of crude and 1.4 million barrels of gasoline and other refined products flow from the Middle East and Asia north through the canal to Europe on the average day. Jim Burkhard, who heads crude oil research at IHS Markit, said the impact on the global oil market will be limited if the canal is cleared soon. Energy demand is still weak due to the pandemic, and the Sumed pipeline has unused capacity to move oil around the canal, from one end near Alexandria, Egypt, to a terminal near the Red Sea. “If this were to last a month, there are other options — you can sail around Africa. Of course, that would add cost,” Burkhard said. “If this ship is moved in the next week, it will be a footnote in history when it comes to the oil market.” The price of benchmark international crude rose after the blockage, but prices retreated Thursday. Analysts attributed the price drop to an industry group’s report of large U.S. inventories and concern that pandemic-related lockdowns in Europe will further dent demand for energy – outweighing concern about the stuck ship. Could petroleum products be slowed?Shipments of Europe-bound refined petroleum products such as gasoline and jet fuel also go through the canal, and they will be delayed. Burkhard said refineries in Europe could be pushed to temporarily increase production to pick up the slack, Burkhard said. Tankers using the Suez carry 8% to 10% of the world's liquefied natural gas, according to research firms. Wood Mackenzie analyst Lucas Schmitt said only a few LNG shipments were near the canal when the blockage occurred. “We don’t expect major bottlenecks unless the situation drags on,” Schmitt said. He added that the timing of the incident — it's spring, when LNG demand typically eases — means it will have less impact on prices than recent delays at the Panama Canal had. Those delays caused LNG shipping rates to surge, according to data from S&P Global Platts Analytics. Sent from my iPad

To: Julius Wong who wrote (169941)	3/27/2021 6:33:57 PM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 219422

Whenever an airplane drops out of the sky standard questions are triggered, and the most relevant be “how did it happen?” A huge ship parks itself sideways in a canal and not a peep about “how?” There seems to be no questions about how it all happened, that which has never happened in sustained way even during war Either MSM completely idiotic or MSM completely idiotic and state-level actors at work, and given that MSM is mostly of the coalition-of-the-willing & like-minded sort, suspect bad-actors at play to champion re-shoring, and testing war protocol Good thing there be Silk Belt & Concrete Road as backstop Should MSM de-cretinise in next few hours, and starts asking standard questions, then guessing game remains open, to name the culprit

To: Julius Wong who wrote (169941)	3/27/2021 6:41:31 PM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 219422

Anyone believe the story as presented below, that a sandstorm compelled a huuuuuuuge ship sideways ... is the only explanation ‘they’ can come up with ... usatoday.com How did Evergreen's ship get stuck in the Suez Canal and create the world's heaviest traffic jam? 12:12 AM GMT+8 Mar. 28, 2021 Dredging crews are moving massive amounts of sand to free a skyscraper-size container ship stuck sideways in the Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. A salvage company will try to free the ship Saturday using large tugboats and dredging during a high tide, the AP reported. At least two attempts will be made. Salvagers are also considering moving containers off the ship, to lighten it and make it easier to move. The 1,312-foot, 200,000 metric ton Ever Given – nearly a quarter-mile long – created a shipper's nightmare and captured the public's imagination when it blocked the canal on Tuesday and caused a traffic jam of more than 200 ships as of Friday. An attempt to refloat the ship Friday failed, said Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the company that manages the vessel. CNN said the U.S. Navy has offered to assist. How did it happen? The Ever Given is stuck near the Egyptian city of Suez, about 3.7 miles north of the canal's southern entrance. It's in a narrow section of the canal, about 985 feet wide. Owners say high wind in a sandstorm pushed the ship sideways, wedging it into both banks of the waterway. Containers stacked on deck may have acted as a sail. The bow is aground on the eastern bank and the stern is on the western. The AP reported that at least 280 ships, carrying everything from cars to oil to grain, wait at the canal’s northern and southern entrances. It said an analysis by data firm Refinitiv showed more than 300 ships were en route to the canal over the next two weeks. At least 10 tugboats have been brought in to reposition and refloat the vessel. Authorities disagree on how long the canal will be blocked. The ship’s owner, Shoei Kisen, said its goal was to free the vessel by the night of March 27. An Egyptian presidential adviser told Agence France Presse on March 26 that traffic would resume within 48 to 72 hours. However, the CEO of a dredging company has said the operation could take weeks. The uncertainty has forced some shippers to alter course and take the longer, alternate route around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, adding weeks to their destinations and increasing fears of piracy. Some have contacted the U.S. Navy about increased security. Officials are under great pressure to remove the ship. The canal is a 120-mile-long shipping link between the Mediterranean and Red seas that carries 10% to 12% of commercial shipping and about 2.5% of the world’s oil. A German insurer said delays could cost global trade $6 billion to $10 billion a week, Reuters reported. GlobalSecurity.org calls the canal “strategically and economically one of the most important waterways in the world.” Show caption This photo released by the Suez Canal Authority on Thursday, March 25, 2021, shows a backhoe trying to dig out the keel of the Ever...Suez Canal Authority via AP The Suez Canal opened in 1869. It's a sea-level canal, without locks, connecting major bodies of water at different altitudes. It normally takes a ship 13 to 15 hours to cross from one end to the other. It's been widened over the years, with the latest project in 2015 at a cost of $8 billion. It's operated by Egypt, through its state-owned Suez Canal Authority. Canal revenue for Egypt was $5.6 billion in 2020, according to Arab News. On average, about 50 ships pass through the canal daily. The Panama-flagged Ever Given was built in 2018 and is operated by Evergreen Marine of Taiwan. It can carry 20,000 20-foot containers, according to Reuters, and transports cargo between Asia and Europe. It has a crew of 25. As authorities scramble to free the vessel, the world watches in anticipation. Despite the serious implications of the jam, some on social media have been making light of the situation including a popular comicand a parody account for a digger at the center of the action. Stop back in for updates or check istheshipstillstuck.com CONTRIBUTING: Janie Haseman, Mitchell Thorson, Karina Zaiets,Dian Zhang, Brenna Smith, Jim Sergent, and Javier Zarracina. SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Associated Press; GlobalSecurity.org; Agence France Presse; Suez Canal Authority Sent from my iPad