The Yellow Fleet and “Trouble in the Suez”

Joshua O’Brien

Last week, the Ever Given, a 200,000 metric ton cargo vessel, somehow managed to get itself stuck lengthwise in the Suez Canal. As of writing the ship still has not been freed, and it blocks the artery carrying 12% of international trade. It has also become an internet joke that I have been a little too eager to participate in. But this is not the first time the Suez Canal has been blocked. Nor is it the first time a vessel has been stranded in the Canal.

In 1967, the Six Day War resulted in the Israeli control of the Sinai Peninsula, in the east banks of the Canal. Nasser, rather than allow Israel use of the canal, ordered his military to blockade and close it. Fifteen cargo ships were stranded in the Canal as a result. They anchored in the Great Bitter Lake, and as the desert winds whipped sand onto their hulls, they earned the nickname the Yellow Fleet. Though the sailors were evacuated over time, the vessels remained with rotating crews until 1975. At this point the Yom Kippur War had happened, and Egypt regained control of the Sinai.

The Yellow Fleet incident is a minor historical event, one of note to trivia nerds rather than serious academic evaluation. Though it highlights that “Trouble in the Suez” is more than a lyric in a novelty Billy Joel song. It is a recurrent theme of Suez's history due to its geostrategic position.

The Suez reduces the time for trade between Europe and Asia, with the Cape of Good Hope route adding weeks to a voyage even in modern times. But beyond its economic significance, its position has always given the Suez some political contention. When it was built in the 1860s, the Canal was under the ownership of an Anglo-French company, which maintained effective control over the body even after Egypt’s independence. When President Nasser nationalized the Canal in 1956, the British and French orchestrated an intervention with the Israelis, hoping to regain the profitable pass. The Suez Crisis tarnished Anthony Eden’s premiership in Britain and solidified the loss of superpower status for both European countries.

This is to say that though the particular circumstances of the obstruction are surprising, the fact that the Suez was obstructed in some form is not surprising. This is in part due to the current reality of global supply chains—growing numbers and bigger boats—but also the Suez’s importance. It is a chokepoint for 12% of global trade and has political significance across the region and the world. Perhaps we should not take its smooth functioning for granted, even after the Ever Given clears.