MAR-24: Suez Canal

We awoke about 0400 to the sound of diesel engines.  Various small boats were coming and going along the side of ROTTERDAM in preparation for our transit of the Suez Canal.  We had been told that ROTTERDAM would hoist two aboard.  In the event of a sandstorm while transited the canal these boats would be launched to help ROTTERDAM tie up to the bank of the canal.  Ships are not allowed to move in the canal during a sandstorm.

Having been told that it might be as late as 0800 before we started our transit, we entered the south end of the Suez Canal at 0550 preceded by a PanMax and followed by two more with other boats further back in our convoy.

An ugly but functional design, a PamMax is the maximum sized vessel that can fit through the Panama Canal.  It is inches shorter than the distance between the lock gates and inches narrower than the width between the walls of the locks.  It is straight-sided to carry maximum cargo – often automobiles for Japan.  Any vessel that can fit through the Panama Canal can fit through the Suez Canal.  The reverse is not true.

Except in a couple of places the Suez Canal is only wide enough for one-way traffic.  By tradition, convoys headed northbound do not stop while convoys headed southbound stop in one of two places to let northbound convoys pass.

Over almost the entire length of the canal the contrast between the east and west banks was surprising.  The first of the following three pictures is taken looking straight ahead.  The next two are taken within one minute of each other, the first showing the western bank and the second showing the eastern bank.

As in other posts in this blog, since there is so much information on the Suez Canal readily available, I am limiting input to pictures and some eclectic thoughts and observations.  

I took over five hundred pictures during our transit.  Here are a few including...

• a mosque at the southern entrance to the canal
• tanker trucks on the east bank waiting to be ferried to the west bank to load water to transport back to the east bank
• white cones used to raise pigeons 
• the only railroad bridge spanning the canal 
• the only vehicle bridge spanning the canal
• an optical illusion – the ship is tied up on the other side of a sand bank

Passing Port Said, ROTTERDAM exited the Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean Sea nine hours after entered the canal from the Red Sea.

Technologically the Suez Canal is not as interesting as the Panama Canal.  During the overall transit, there is more to see in the Suez Canal. 

The fee for ROTTERDAM’S transit of the canal was approximately $200,000.  On average fifty ships a day – every day – pay a similar fee.  The Suez Canal is a huge source of revenue for the Egyptian government. 

MAR-25: Was Rhodes on the Itinerary?

Today was scheduled to be a day at sea, transiting from the north end of the Suez Canal to Pireas, the seaport serving Athens, Greece.  A medical emergency aboard necessitated a course change to Rodhos on the northern end of the island of Rhodes.   We arrived there in the afternoon.  The Turkish coast was clearly visible to our east.  ROTTERDAM did not get as close to Rodhos as the following pictures might suggest.  They were shot from well off-shore with a telephoto lens.

Seas were somewhat rough.  ROTTERDAM had to create an artificial lee for the Coast Guard to come alongside.   Although not executed with unqualified precision the transfer of the patient was accomplished.   The passengers applauded the crew of the Coast Guard boat. 

With three blasts of her horn, ROTTERDAM was underway again for Pireas while the Coast Guard vessel slammed through the waves back to Rodhos.

Within minutes black smoke began pouring from one of the stacks and the ship slowed down.  

A few minutes later the Captain got on the public address system to assure passengers that there was no fire but a problem, initially thought to be a fuel injector, was causing the smoke and necessitating the reduction in speed.  The Captain came on the PA system again to inform us that the problem was caused by a turbo-charger failing.  The engine – one of five with only two or three in used at any one time – was shut down for repairs.  The mountainous coast and islands of Turkey fell astern of us as we resumed our course of 258 degrees and speed of 18 knots for an on-time arrival in Pireas, Greece.