A giant the container ship remained trapped sideways in the Egyptian Suez Canal for the fifth day Saturday, as authorities prepared to make further attempts to free the ship and reopen an east-west waterway crucial to global shipping.
Ever Give owners say a gust of wind pushed her and her huge load of more than 20,000 shipping containers to the side on Tuesday in the canal, which sank her between the sandy banks of the canal. The massive boat was trapped in a single-lane stretch of canal just a few miles from its southern entrance.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, Ever Ever’s technical manager, said an attempt to release him on Friday failed.
Samuel Mohsen / image alliance through Getty Images
There were plans to pump water from the boat’s interior spaces, and two more tugs were due to arrive on Sunday to join others already trying to move the massive boat, he said.
An official from the Suez Canal Authority said they had planned to make at least two attempts on Saturday to release the ship when the tide goes down.
A traffic jam grew to 280 boats on the outskirts of the Suez Canal on Saturday, according to canal service provider Leth Agencies. Some boats began to change course and dozens of boats were still en route to the waterway, according to data firm Refinitiv.
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Shoei Kisen President Yukito Higaki told a news conference at the company’s headquarters in Imabari, western Japan, that 10 tugs were deployed and that workers were dredging banks and the seabed in near the bow of the ship to try to float it again when the high tide begins to rise.
Shoei Kisen said in a statement Saturday that the company was considering removing containers to lighten the ship if refloating efforts failed, but it would be a difficult operation.
The White House said it has offered to help Egypt reopen the canal. “We have equipment and capacity that most countries don’t have and we’re seeing what we can do and what help we can be,” President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday.
Prolonged closure of the crucial waterway would cause delays in the global shipping chain. About 19,000 boats passed through the canal last year, according to official data. Approximately 10% of world trade flows through the canal, which is particularly crucial for oil transportation. The closure could affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Middle East.
It was unclear how long the blockade would last. Even after reopening the canal that connects factories in Asia with consumers in Europe, waiting containers are likely to arrive at busy ports, forcing them to face additional delays before unloading.
According to satellite data, the owners of the trapped ship, apparently anticipating long delays, diverted a sister ship, the Ever Greet, to a route around Africa.
Others have also deviated. According to satellite data from MarineTraffic.com, the liquid natural gas carrier Pan Américas changed course in the mid-Atlantic, with the goal now of turning to the southern tip of Africa.
The Financial Times reported on Friday that several maritime groups had contacted the Fifth U.S. Navy Fleet for maritime safety issues for ships that chose to sail south around Africa, which it would place them in the waters of the east coast of the continent that have a long history. of piracy.
“Africa is at risk of piracy, especially in East Africa,” Zhao Qing-feng of the Shanghai Chinese Homeowners Association in FT told FT, saying owners could have to hire security forces additional to board your boats before making the long voyage.
It’s just one more factor that can lead to a severe slowdown and a possible rise in prices for goods moving to Europe and the United States from Asia and one more headache for a global supply chain system already strained by the coronavirus pandemic.
Egyptian authorities have banned media access to the site. Channel officials said their chief, Lieutenant General Osama Rabei, would hold a press conference on Saturday in the city of Suez, a few kilometers from the ship’s site.