A dredge attempts to release the stranded container ship Ever given, one of the largest container vessels in the world, after it ran aground in the Suez Canal, Egypt, on March 26, 2021.
Suez Canal Authority | Reuters
Companies are striving to redirect seagoing ships to prevent the attack on the Suez Canal, including at least two U.S. ships carrying natural gas for Cheniere and Shell / BG Group, according to data provided by MarineTraffic and ClipperData.
At least ten tankers and container vessels are changing course, as Ever Give, one of the world’s largest container vessels, is stranded across the canal along Egypt, MarineTraffic spokesman Georgios told CNBC Hatzimanolis.
“We expect that number to increase as this closure progresses,” Hatzimanolis said.
The 1,300-foot boat ran aground on Tuesday from Malaysia to the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The stranded ship has caused other ships to back up the canal and contained approximately $ 400 million per hour in goods, according to the Lloyd’s List shipping newspaper. This has risen slowly in recent days after Egypt’s repeated efforts to re-float the 247,000-ton container ship have failed. Officials use eight large tugs and excavation equipment along the canal to dig sand around the boat ashore.
According to MarineTraffic, there are 97 boats trapped at the top of the canal, 23 boats waiting in the center and 108 boats at the bottom. The logjam stretches across the Red Sea, passing through the Gulf of Aden, to the border of Yemen and Oman.
“From Asia to Europe we are seeing ships divert to the Indian Ocean, just below the southern tip of Sri Lanka,” Hatzimanolis added. For ships bound for Europe from Asia, circulating in Africa instead of passing through the canal can add up to seven days to a ship’s voyage, he said.
Oil tanker Maran Gas Andros LNG departed from Ingleside, Texas, on March 19 loaded with Cheniere fuel and a carrying capacity of 170,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas. The Pan Americas LNG tanker, which carries Shell / BG fuel, left Sabine Pass on March 17 and can carry up to 174,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas. Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData, confirmed which companies used the ships.
The two tankers changed course in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean before turning off to turn around the Cape.
ClipperData also shows the Suezmax Marlin Santorini loaded with 700,000 barrels of Midland West Texas Intermediate crude derived from the canal. Smith said the original route to Suez was “unusual fun.”
“The vast majority of U.S. crude exports avoid the Suez Canal, heading to or around the Cape of Good Hope to Asia,” Smith explained. The Suezmax Marlin was at Magellan’s Seabrook Terminal in Houston, Texas, on March 10, where it was topped off with 330,000 barrels of West Texas light crude before heading to Galveston, Texas the next day.
The ship left the United States for Port Said in northeastern Egypt, but took a turn south on Thursday after passing the Azores near Portugal. “The ship has not yet updated its stated destination,” Smith said.
ClipperData shows the number of fully loaded tankers waiting in both Port Said and the U.S. Gulf Coast. On Friday afternoon, two other tankers and a Suezmax, the largest tanker that can sail the Suez Canal, which was transporting empty diesel from the United States, passed through Crete and set anchor off the coast of Egypt.
Another ship, the container ship HMM Rotterdam, veered off the canal just before entering the Strait of Gibraltar, changing course to circumnavigate Africa.
Peter Sand, chief analyst at BIMCO Shipping, said the diversion pattern is similar among other ships.
“We’re seeing not only redirect container ships in both directions, but also LNG carriers and dry bulk from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico,” Sand said. “The ships take a sharp turn to the right in the middle of the Atlantic to head south to the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the breakwater around Suez.”
Kevin Book, managing director of ClearView Energy Partners, says that while a long Suez outage introduces latency into the supply system, for liquefied natural gas, the duration of the delay depends on where the ship started, where it was headed, and where he changed course. .
“For U.S. Gulf exporters, turning the horn only adds three days or less to the sea in the port of Tokyo,” Book said. “For cargoes from Doha to northwestern Europe, this route could take ten days during the trip.”
Loads originating in the Gulf of Mexico and stranded in the Mediterranean could face a ten-day deviation instead of three, he said.
At the time of publication, Cheniere and Shell / BG responded to CNBC’s request for comment.
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company said 11 of its vessels were being redirected, 19 vessels were anchored on either side of the canal and two vessels were retreating as of Friday afternoon.
The blockade of the Suez Canal is one of the “biggest disruptions in world trade in recent years,” MSC senior vice president Caroline Becquart said in an email Saturday.
“We anticipate that the second quarter of 2021 will be more altered than the first three months and perhaps even more difficult than last year,” he said. “Companies should expect the Suez blockade to lead to a reduction in shipping capacity and equipment and, as a result, some deterioration in supply chain reliability problems over the coming months.”