Ship blocking Suez Canal could be stuck for weeks
As it disrupts £6.5bn of goods a day – some bound for UK...
THE giant cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal is like a ‘beached whale’ and could be stuck for weeks, rescuers said yesterday.
It comes as the number of vessels caught in the logjam topped 200 and there are fears that there could be delays for UK-bound deliveries.
Salvagers are racing to free the Ever Given – which is wedged across one of the world’s busiest shipping routes – as experts said £6.5billion worth of goods are being disrupted every day the canal remains closed.
The Government yesterday warned of potential delays to imports after the blockage imperilled global trade. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said ‘some goods destined for the UK may be delayed in transit’, adding that Britain was ready to help.
The ship was grounded in the southern part of the waterway on Tuesday amid strong winds and a dust storm sweeping off the Egyptian desert as it sailed from China towards the Mediterranean.
Retail goods commonly imported from Asia such as electronics, cars and clothing could be affected by the blockage as container ships which carry everything from mobile phones to designer handbags were caught in the pileup. A ship the size of the Ever Given can carry 20,000 containers.
The vessel’s Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha, apologised for the chaos yesterday but said dislodging the ship – which at 1,312ft is longer than four football pitches – was proving difficult.
Egyptian officials have stopped
‘It’s like a beached whale’
all traffic entering the canal while tugboats, dredgers and diggers attempted to dislodge the vessel.
But the rescue effort was mocked on social media after images showed a single bulldozer trying to free the ship’s bow.
Peter Berdowski of salvage firm Boskalis, which is devising a refloating plan, said freeing the 224,000-tonne vessel could take time. He told Dutch television: ‘We can’t exclude it might take weeks. It is like an enormous beached whale. We might have to work with a combination of reducing the weight by removing containers, oil and water from the ship, tug boats and dredging of sand.’
Some 206 container ships, oil tankers and bulk vessels have backed up at either end of the canal – which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea – creating one of the worst shipping jams in years. Rotterdam port in the Netherlands, the destination of the Ever Given, said: ‘Every port in Western Europe is going to feel this.’ And Lars Jensen, of Sea-Intelligence Consulting, said the blockage would ‘have repercussions several months down the line for the supply chain’.
An alternative route around the African cape takes a week longer and would rack up hundreds of thousands of pounds in extra costs. Experts said that even if the Ever Given was refloated quickly, its owner and insurers faced claims totalling millions for the delays and extra expenses accrued by other companies.
The Suez Canal is affected by tides and Nick Sloane, who helped free the Costa Concordia cruise ship in 2012, said the best chance of success may be on Monday when tides will be at their highest.