LAKSHYA: A BEACON OF KNOWLEDGE, APRIL EDITION 2021

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193 KM long , 8 meters depth , 1.5 million workers were used for digging the canal Construction started in 1859 and opened for commercial purpose in Nov, 1869 completed in 10 years

Impact of blockage and consequences: Insurance “The insurance industry is waiting with bated breath at the direction from which claims can arise out of the Canal blockage and of course what could be the enormity of the exposure,” said R Balasundaram, Executive Vice-president, Global Insurance Brokers Pvt Ltd. There are various areas of claims to possibly come up such as demand for GA (General Average) and salvage guarantee from cargo interests. There could be a claim under the hull and machinery policy or damages against the vessel, and business interruption losses. There could be losses due to perishable cargo or the cancellation of orders, hence the claim demand,” he stated. Describing it as a “once-in-a-lifetime type of event”, the Canal blockage is estimated to cause losses in billions of dollars for insurers and the loss of trade per day due to the closure is pegged at close to $9 billion, he said. Operations “Global shipping giant Maersk warns ripple effects of Suez Canal blockage will last for weeks” As on 29/03/2021, there were still 422 ships waiting to go through the Suez Canal. It is a known fact that no ship thought to take another

route, despite the fact that the crisis lasted 6 days, because the alternative route was more than 10,000 miles. The Suez Canal is still the safest, shortest, and best service course. Trade Suez Canal blockage is delaying an estimated $400 million an hour in goods - Lloyd’s List calculates. Separately, data from Lloyd's List showed the stranded ship was holding up an estimated $9.6bn of trade along the waterway each day. That equates to $400m and 3.3 million tonnes of cargo an hour, or $6.7m a minute. Looking at the bigger picture, German insurer Allianz said on Friday its analysis showed the blockage could cost global trade between $6bn to $10bn a week and reduce annual trade growth by 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points. Shipping broker Braemar ACM told the Wall Street Journal that the cost of renting some vessels to ship cargo to and from Asia and the Middle East had jumped 47% to $2.2m. Some vessels have been rerouted to avoid the Suez Canal. That is adding around eight days to their total journeys. The Suez Canal blockage doesn't just affect the global shipping industry or the Egyptian economy - countless businesses, from domestic transport providers to retailers, supermarkets and manufacturers are also impacted. Impact on India: The export scenes in India are no different either. In addition to hike in shipping rates, the blockage has the potential to curtail key manufacturing supplies.

KAIZEN’S OPERATIONS & RESEARCH ENTITY

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