ISMAILIA, Egypt (AP) – Dredgers, tugs and even a backhoe were unable to release a giant cargo ship minted in the Egyptian Suez Canal on Thursday as the number of stacked ships could not cross the river vital rose to 150 and worldwide shipment losses mounted.
The skyscraper-sized Ever Give, which carried goods between Asia and Europe, ran aground on the narrow man-made canal that divides mainland Africa from the Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday. Even with the help of the high tides, the authorities have not been able to remove the container ship with the Panama flag and are looking for new ideas to release it.
As a sign of the unrest that has caused the blockade, the Japanese owner of the boat even apologized in writing.
“We are determined to continue working hard to resolve this situation as soon as possible,” said Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd. “We would like to apologize to all parties affected by this incident, including ships traveling and planning to travel the Suez Canal.”
When efforts to free her resumed on Thursday in broad daylight, an official from the Egyptian Canal Authority said workers hoped to avoid unloading containers from the ship, as it would take days to do so and extend the closure. . The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not allowed to speak to journalists.
So far, dredgers have tried to clean up the slime around the massive ship. Tugboats pushed the boat to their side, trying to gain momentum. From the shore, at least one backhoe dug into the sandy banks of the canal, suggesting that the bow of the ship had plowed into it. However, satellite photos taken Thursday by Planet Labs Inc. and analyzed by The Associated Press showed that the ship was still moored in the same place.
Lieutenant General Osama Rabei, head of the canal authority, said navigation along the waterway would be stopped until Ever Date was re-floated. A team from Boskalis, a Dutch company specializing in recovery, arrived on the canal on Thursday, although one of its top officials warned that removing the ship could take “days to weeks”.
A team from Boskalis subsidiary, SMIT, “spent the day doing inspections and making calculations to assess the condition of the ship and a plan on how to re-float the ship,” spokesman Martijn Schuttevaer told the AP. He did not offer a period of time.
Suez Canal Authority said one idea the team discussed was scraping the bottom of the canal around the ship.
On Wednesday, Boskalis president Peter Berdowski described the ship as “a very heavy whale on the beach.”
“The ship, with its weight now, cannot really be released. You can forget about it, ”he told the Dutch news program“ Nieuwsuur ”.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the company that manages Ever Ever, said its 25-member crew was safe and accountable. Shoei Kisen Kaisha said the entire crew came from India.
The ship had two pilots from the Egyptian Canal Authority aboard the ship to guide it when the landing occurred around 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement said.
The channel’s service provider, Leth Agencies, said at least 150 vessels were waiting for the Ever Give cleanup to be achieved, including ships near Port Said in the Mediterranean Sea, Port Suez in the Red Sea and those already in operation. trapped in the canal system of the great Egyptian bitter lake.
Cargo ships that are already behind the Ever done in the canal will head south to Port Suez to clear the canal, Leth Agencies said. Authorities hope to do the same with Ever Ever when they can release him.
Evergreen Marine Corp., a major Taiwan-based shipping company that operates the ship, said the Ever Give had been overtaken by strong winds as it entered the canal, something Egyptian officials also said. A strong wind and a sandstorm ravaged the area on Tuesday, with gusts up to 50 km / h (30 mph).
An initial report suggested the ship suffered an electrical outage prior to the incident, which Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement denied.
“Early investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as due to grounding,” the company said.
In Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters that the Suez Canal is part of a crucial international maritime lane and that the Japanese government was gathering information and working with local authorities.
The closure could affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Middle East, which depend on the canal to avoid navigating Africa. The international benchmark Brent crude price on Thursday stood at more than $ 63 a barrel.
In general, the famous shipping magazine Lloyd’s List estimates that every day the Suez Canal closes, there are disruptions of more than $ 9 billion worth of goods that should pass through the river course. A quarter of all Suez Canal traffic a day comes from container ships like the Ever Ever, the magazine said.
“Blocking something like the Suez Canal really sets in motion a series of dominoes that fall over,” said Lars Jensen, executive director of Denmark-based SeaIntelligence Consulting. “The effect will not only be simple and immediate, with a delay in loading over the next few weeks, but it will have repercussions for several months on the supply chain.”
The Ever Give, built in 2018 with a length of about 400 meters and a width of 59 meters, is among the largest cargo ships in the world. It can carry about 20,000 containers at a time. He had previously been to ports in China before heading to Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal provides a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo. It also remains one of the top currency winners in Egypt. In 2015, the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi completed a major expansion of the canal, which allowed it to house the largest ships in the world. However, Ever Give ran aground south of this new portion of the canal.
Stranded Tuesday is the latest to hit sailors amid the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands have been trapped aboard ships due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, demands for shipping have increased, increasing pressure on tired sailors.
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Gambrell reported from Dubai, UAE. Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Isabel DeBre in Dubai and Mike Corder in The Hague, the Netherlands, collaborated.