SUEZ CANAL BLOCKAGE: US MILITARY HAS ALTERNATIVE REQUIREMENTS TO MEET MISSION REQUIREMENTS
Following the recent blockage of a vital waterway in Egypt’s Suez Canal, America has stated that its military ships have alternatives to meet mission requirements.
Suez Canal, a 120-mile long man-made waterway that runs through Egypt and connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea was blocked by EverGiven, a massive container ship for over a week, which caused a long tailback in the waterway with at least 360 vessels stranded.
The route is also used by military ships, including those of the United States Navy. However, on Monday America issued a statement saying that the week-long blockage of the Suez canal is not a show stopper for the U.S. military as America had long recognized the fact that narrow waterways could pose as chokepoints hence “we always make sure that we have alternate capabilities to meet mission requirements,” Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said on Monday.
“We have recognized the fact that chokepoints like the Suez Canal could suffer blockages like this, and it’s factored into just normal operational planning,” Kirby said
The Pentagon secretary added that incident has not caused the U.S. military to rethink its posture in the Middle East or its mission requirements there, because there are already other plans in place for such situations.
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“In any circumstance around the world, the U.S. military has … at its disposal any number of alternate ways of achieving mission success and meeting our mission requirement,” he said.
The Ever Given Ship which ran aground in the Suez Canal last Tuesday, was eventually was finally dislodged on Monday with the help of dredgers.
Making room for hundred of ships waiting to pass through the canal which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.
READ ALSO: INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION'S STATEMENT ON EVER GIVEN GROUNDING IN SUEZ CANAL
Although officials say the backlog of ships waiting to transit through the canal should be cleared in around three days, experts believe the bottleneck the one week delay would have on global shipping could take weeks or months to resolve.
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