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Re:Suez canal blocked by a massive ship by HenryKissinger on Wednesday March 24, 2021 @07:48AM (#26565933)
How much longer would it take to go around Africa to Gibraltar?
Re:Suez canal blocked by a massive ship by lb1lf on Wednesday March 24, 2021 @08:26AM (#26566265)
The increase in distance would be approx. 6,000Nm (assuming they arrived at the entrance to the Red Sea before having to change course).

6000Nm and, say, 25 knots (probably a bit on the high side, but not by much) should add 240 hours of steaming or 10 days to the voyage.

(This will be somewhat offset by the lower speed through the channel, waiting times &c - I've no idea how long a typical Suez transit is.)

Re:Suez canal blocked by a massive ship by restalis on Wednesday March 24, 2021 @06:38PM (#26573914)
"I've no idea how long a typical Suez transit is."

For yachts it is (supposed to be) two days. It's one day to Ismailia on either way and then one for the rest. (The paperwork however, may take longer, but can be arranged in advance.) See more at https://www.noonsite.com/report/suez-canal-transit-informati...

Re:Suez canal blocked by a massive ship by gala8y on Thursday March 25, 2021 @04:56AM (#26577821)
walrus01 linked a video here yesterday [0] of a ship transit. For a ship it takes 11 to 16 hours, including stop on Great Bitter Lake in the middle of the canal.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26561816

Re:Suez canal blocked by a massive ship by larzang on Wednesday March 24, 2021 @08:27AM (#26566275)
8 days, but the bigger problem is that increases the expected sea states encountered by several levels. Huge container ships don't like that.
Re:Suez canal blocked by a massive ship by MuffinFlavored on Wednesday March 24, 2021 @06:44PM (#26573966)
Can you expand as to why not/what "increases expected sea states encountered" means? Maybe an ELI5
Re:Suez canal blocked by a massive ship by salawat on Thursday March 25, 2021 @01:59AM (#26576981)
Look at a globe. You'll notice that the water around the tip of South America/South Africa is one of the few bands of the Earth completely unbroken by landmass.

That's a lot of fetch for wind, which transfers energy to the ocean's surface, which travels as waves, which build up because there's no land damping from west to east. Throw in the Antarctic Circumpolar current and weather systems interacting with the Benguela current an Agulhas current... That's a lot of energy getting put into a relatively tiny band of water.

The Cape of Good Hope was previously known as the Cape of Storms based on the aforementioned confluence of forces generally making sea states miserable. The Good Hope part was what putatively happened after you got through it, and the seas you'd have to worry about would generally be calmer.

Re:Suez canal blocked by a massive ship by matt_the_bass on Wednesday March 24, 2021 @08:36PM (#26575068)
Very rough water around the cape of good hope. Comparatively calm water through the Suez and Med.
Re:Suez canal blocked by a massive ship by s5300 on Wednesday March 24, 2021 @08:19PM (#26574897)
Hoping I'm not misreading and this is what you're after - basically, less predictable weather that is more prone to suddenly changing when going that route and also naturally given the extended period of time involved. Longer it take to go around, the more time for potential sea conditions that large container ships may not be safe in.