Stuck ship holds up trade
Everything from oil to toilet paper affected by ship wedged in Suez Canal
The skyscraper-sized vessel container ship stuck sideways in the Suez Canal is costing the shipping world $400 million an hour.
The blockage is not only threating gas and oil supplies it is also causing shortages of toilet paper, coffee, furniture, exercise equipment and liquified natural gas.
“Containers are already scarce in China and the backup in the Suez will further stress the inventory,” explained Jon Monroe, a maritime trade and logistics consultant. “We are back to a pre-Chinese New Year environment where factories are running at full steam and are struggling to find containers as well as space for their finished goods.”
A maritime traffic jam grew to more than 200 vessels Friday outside the Suez Canal and some vessels began changing course as dredgers and tugboats worked to free a giant container ship.
One salvage expert said freeing the cargo ship, the Evergreen, could take up to a week in the best-case scenario and warned of possible structural problems on the vessel as it remains wedged.
About 10% of world trade flows through the canal, which is particularly crucial for transporting oil.
The Ever Given, also called the Evergreen, owned by the Japanese firm Shoei Kisen KK, got wedged Tuesday in a single-lane stretch of the canal, about 3.7 miles north of the southern entrance, near the city of Suez.
Dredgers have stopped removing sand around the bow of the vessel and tugboats were preparing another towing attempt, said Lt. Gen. Osama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority, in a statement Friday night. There was no immediate word on whether they have managed to budge the skyscraper-sized vessel, and previous attempts with tugboats were unsuccessful.
A team from Boskalis, a Dutch firm specializing in salvaging, was working with the canal authority with tugboats and a specialized suction dredger at the port side of the cargo ship’s bow. Egyptian authorities have prohibited media access to the site.
“It’s a complex technical operation” that will require several attempts to free the vessel, Rabei said.
Attempts earlier Friday to free it failed, said Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the technical manager of the Ever Given.
The Suez Canal Authority said it welcomed international assistance. The White House said it has offered to help Egypt reopen the canal. “We are consulting with our Egyptian partners about how we can best support their efforts,” press secretary Jen Psaki said.
An initial investigation showed the vessel ran aground due to strong winds and ruled out mechanical or engine failure, the company said. GAC, a global shipping and logistics company, had previously said the ship had experienced a power blackout, but it did not elaborate.