ABSTRACT
In June 1967 the Arab/Israeli war succeeded in closing the Suez Canal in such a devastating way that many experts were predicting that it would never reopen. It was blocked by sunken ships, crumbled banks, dozens of tanks and a good deal of bad feeling on both sides. The oil industry had an unobstructed run to Japan from the Persian Gulf, but insufficient ships to deliver all the oil required by Western consumers. This was due to the fact that tankers of up to 65,000 dead-weight tonnage (DWT), which heretofore had been transitting the Suez Canal to the Persian Gulf, now had to make the much longer voyage around the Cape of Good Hope to collect and deliver oil to Europe and the Western Hemisphere. Many more ships were needed to deliver the same quantity of oil over a much greater distance. What added to the shortfall was that the demand for oil was increasing as industry converted to oil from coal-fired furnaces and boilers. The demand for petrol was also increasing, with more and more motor cars on the road.
