Do barges have enough fuel to bypass the Suez canal?

Barges by definition are not usually self propelled, but either pushed or towed by a tug of some sort.

@stanleybmanly Not in the Suez canal, but the long way around Africa. I don’t think that tugboats push barges around the ocean. Maybe I am not using the correct term?

Shipping container vessels might be a better name.

Exactly. Barges are usually restricted to river traffic. Unlike ships, they are not designed as seagoing vessels. They have flat bottoms and lack a ship’s keel. They are ideal for shallow and tame water.

@stanleybmanly Ok. What is the correct term for vessels that are ocean traveling vessels, that ship containers? Also can the 100–300 ship’s, affected by the delay, bypass the Suez canal and go around the long way around the planet?
CNN just called it a container ship.

Ocean going vessels are of course ships and boats. There are such things as sea barges. But those are barges that are loaded onto ships and usually transported over oceans, then unloaded at the mouths of rivers to be towed or pushed upstream. The tugboats can be both seagoing and river tugs.

Just call them freighters.
And I would say probably not. The more fuel you carry, the heavier you are, the slower your are, and the more fuel you consume. That is why racing cars do not carry fuel for the whole race, but carry as little as possible, and just refuel in pit stops. They are faster that way over the whole race.
In the same vein, I would think that freighters only carry enough fuel for the planned distance.

But things are different for container ships Loli. The “race” has different specs. Fuel is usually convenient as rather necessary ballast, and decisions can often be made to adjust the capacity carried to the amount of cargo depending on destination.

They can carry enough. In fact, in recent years it’s become more common for ships to bypass the Suez Canal route, and go around Africa so as to avoid piracy around the Horn of Africa.

The correct term is ship. This is where the term “to ship” comes from.

And the nice thing about ships is you can dock at ports and top up on fuel and food. So even if the didn’t start off with enough fuel to go via the cape of good hope it can get some more on the way.

I suspect this question is not about what term ships are called but whether the cargo ships waiting for the enema in the Suez Canal could find another route. I’ve wondered that too.

The ships would probably have to be refueled and restocked at various ports around Africa, or by tankers and other supply oriented ships. They may not be able to dock due to their large sizes, so would possibly be refueled and restocked at sea..

Of course ships can make the trip around the horns of Africa and South America. In fact a major bottleneck in the construction of massive ships of gigantic capacities which would very much improve the efficiencies inherent with ships is the restrictions in the dimensions of ships dictated by those of the 2 canals.

@janbb ships are already taking the alternative route via sailing round Africa however this route goes via some of the most pirate infested waters in the world and areas that were infamous for ships sinking so they may just sit tight

@Lightlyseared Yes, I guess that’s what they have done.