Brenda canales

One day in 2001 Nguyen Thanh Duc saw a group of local officials come to his alley. With writing pads and measurement tapes in hand, they walked back and forth, pointing at things and writing stuff down before leaving. The 51-year-old, like the rest of his neighborhood in Ward 2, Binh Thanh District, was ecstatic. They had heard that the 6.2-km Xuyen Tam Canal would be renovated and cleaned up. But no such thing happened, and now, two decades gone, the canal remains badly polluted and putrid. In the 1990s the water used to be a glistening blue and so clear one could see its bottom, Duc remembers wistfully. Children would often swim along the banks, hunt for birds and look for coconuts near the Son Bridge in the evenings. Nature was kind to humans then, he says. But all that changed as more and more people came to the area. Makeshift houses with rusty roofs started to sprout in the neighborhood. People took advantage of any space they could find to cook, wash their laundry, even … [Read more...] about Polluted Saigon canal drives citizens to the brink after two decades

The crew of a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship found themselves in dire straits on Tuesday evening as their vessel found itself wedged sideways into the banks of the Suez Canal, blocking all traffic in both directions through the waterway. “Ship in front of us ran aground while going through the canal and is now stuck sideways looks like we might be here for a little bit,” user fallenhearts17 posted on Instagram on Tuesday, accompanied by an alarming image of a huge container vessel sitting astride the Suez Canal. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Julianne Cona (@fallenhearts17) According to ship tracking data , the vessel is the Ever Given, a 400-meter-by-59-meter cargo vessel with a gross tonnage of 219,079 tons flying the flag of Panama. The cargo ship is logged as having last visited Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia, and is en route to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where it was due to arrive in a week. That was, at least, until this afternoon. … [Read more...] about Photo: Huge Container Ship Gets Stuck Sideways in Egypt’s Suez Canal, Blocking All Sea Traffic

DUBAI: A giant container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal after a gust of wind blew it off course, the vessel's operator said on Wednesday (Mar 24), bringing marine traffic to a halt along one of the world's busiest trade routes. Traffic on the narrow waterway dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula stopped on Tuesday after the MV Ever Given got stuck. The MV Ever Given is a 400m-long and 59m-wide Panama-flagged container ship, with its owner listed in Japan. Taiwan's Evergreen Marine Corp, which is leasing the vessel under a time charter, said the shipowner informed it that the ship "was suspected of being hit by a sudden strong wind, causing the hull to deviate from waterway and accidentally hit the bottom and run aground". "The company has urged the shipowner to report the cause of the incident and has been in discussions with relevant parties including the canal management authority to assist the ship as soon as possible." The Ever Given's bow … [Read more...] about Suez Canal blocked by massive cargo ship

CAIRO -- Eight tug boats were attempting on Wednesday to free a 400m (440-yard) long container ship that ran aground in the Suez Canal, blocking vessels passing through one of the world’s most important waterways, the authority that runs the canal said. The 224,000-tonne Ever Given was stranded on Tuesday morning after losing the ability to steer amid high winds and a dust storm, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a statement. The authority said it was sparing no effort to ensure regular navigation through the canal, but it was unclear how soon the vessel would be free and sources said delays to shipping were expected. About 12% of world trade by volume passes through the canal connecting Europe and Asia. The canal remains a major source of hard currency for Egypt. Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), the ship’s technical manager, said the Ever Given, one of the largest container ships in the world, ran aground in the canal at around 05:40 GMT on Tuesday. It said an … [Read more...] about Tug boats work to free giant container ship stuck in Suez Canal

Last Updated Aug 6, 2015 9:27 AM EDT EGYPT -- Egypt invited presidents and kings to the banks of the Suez Canal on Thursday for the official unveiling of the expansion of the waterway, which it is calling, "Egypt's gift to the world," CBS News' Alex Ortix reports. The $8 billion expansion to the Suez Canal adds an extra lane to one of the busiest waterways on earth. It also widens and deepens 22 miles of it. The canal is one of the major arteries of global business. Nearly a tenth of the world's traffic passes through it, and the government says the New Canal will double its capacity, Ortiz reports. The expansion project was supposed to take three years, but workers labored day and night, and finished in only 12 months. The speed at which the project was completed was a point of pride for Egyptians, some of whom called it, "the fourth pyramid," Ortiz reports. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi promised the project would bring much-needed jobs and revenue to an economy … [Read more...] about Egypt ushers in $8 billion Suez Canal expansion