Tide may help ship wedged in Suez Canal; US Navy on way

ISMAILIA, Egypt — The global economic troubles triggered by a giant container ship stuck in the Suez Canal worsened Saturday with the blockage of more ships carrying billions of dollars’ worth of goods. But hopes also grew that favorable tidal conditions could help free the Ever Given.

The U.S. Navy plans to send a team of dredging experts to the canal to assess the problem and should arrive soon, CNN reported, citing Pentagon sources.

Two attempts to free the vessel failed on Saturday, according to Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the ship’s management company, and a canal services provider, Leth agencies, despite hopes that a high tide might give the vessel a boost.

On Friday night, the ship’s Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen, offered a bit of hope by suggesting that tidal movements over the next few days looked favorable enough for another attempt to dislodge the ship. Yukito Higaki, the company’s president, told reporters that the dredging of the banks and sea floor to refloat the ship could be assisted by a high tide, which would raise the water in the canal and potentially help float the ship off the mud it’s mired in.

If the rising tide doesn’t help free the vessel, Shoei Kisen said in a statement Saturday, the company would consider removing its containers to reduce the vessel’s weight to help it float again.

By Saturday, the potential for a fullblown economic calamity was palpable — the canal is a vital global portal, carrying 13% of all global trade on ships ferrying $9.5 billion in goods each day.

A total of 321 vessels were stuck in a massive maritime traffic jam, according to Leth Agencies. Two days ago, the number was 156.

Meanwhile, Egyptian authorities publicly acknowledged for the first time that an initial investigation that found that the ship beached because of strong winds in a dust storm might not have been entirely accurate.

At a news conference Saturday, Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie, head of Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority, said that such “a significant incident” typically has many causes.

“The weather was one reason, but maybe there was a technical error, or a human error,” he said.