Maritime traffic jam grows outside blocked Suez Canal
SUEZ, Egypt – A maritime traffic jam grew to more than 200 vessels Friday outside the Suez Canal and some vessels began changing course as dredgers worked frantically to free a giant container ship that was stuck sideways in the waterway and disrupting global shipping.
One salvage expert said freeing the cargo ship, the Ever Given, could take up to a week in the best-case scenario and warned of possible structural problems on the vessel as it remained wedged.
The Ever Given, owned by the Japanese firm Shoei Kisen KK, got wedged Tuesday in a single-lane stretch of the canal, just under 4 miles miles north of the southern entrance, near the city of Suez.
A team from Boskalis, a Dutch firm specializing in salvaging, is working with the canal authority, using tugboats and a specialized suction dredger to remove the sand and mud on the port side of the bow. Egyptian authorities have closed media access to the site.
An attempt Friday to free the ship failed, said Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the technical manager of the Ever Given. Plans were in the works to pump water from interior spaces of the vessel, and two more tugs should arrive by Sunday, the company said.
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.
The canal authority released a video showing Lt. Gen. Osama Rabei inspecting efforts to free the Ever Given and telling workers: “Good luck, God willing.”
An initial investigation found the vessel ran aground due to strong winds and ruled out mechanical or engine failure as a cause, the company said. GAC, a global shipping and logistics company, previously said the ship had experienced a power blackout, but it did not elaborate.
Bernhard Schulte said two canal pilots had been aboard the ship when it got stuck. Such an arrangement is customary, but the ship’s captain retains ultimate authority over the vessel, according to shipping experts.
In addition to the over 200 vessels waiting near the canal, more than 100 ships were en route to the waterway, according to the data firm Refinitiv.
Apparently to avoid long delays, the owners of the stuck vessel diverted a sister ship, the Ever Greet, to round Africa to reach Europe instead of waiting for the canal to reopen, according to satellite data.
Others also were being diverted. The liquid natural gas carrier Pan Americas changed course in the mid-atlantic, now aiming south to go around the southern tip of Africa, according to satellite data from Marinetraffic.com.
About 10% of world trade flows through the canal, which is particularly crucial for the transport of oil. The closure also could affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Middle East.
Oil markets are absorbing the disruption for now, said analyst Toril Bosoni.
“Oil inventories have been coming down but they are still relatively ample,” he told said, adding that he believes the effect might be more pronounced in the tanker sector than in the oil industry.
“We are not losing any oil supply but it will tie up tankers for longer if they have to go around” the tip of Africa, he said, which is roughly an additional two-week trip.
At the White House, Psaki added that the U.S. does see “some potential impacts on energy markets from the role of the Suez Canal as a key bidirectional transit route for oil . ... We’re going to continue to monitor market conditions and we’ll respond appropriately if necessary, but it is something we’re watching closely.”
Freeing the Ever Given is “quite a challenge” and could take five days to a week, said Capt. Nick Sloane, a maritime salvage expert who led the highprofile effort to salvage the cruise ship Costa Concordia in 2012.
The Ever Given’s location, size and large amount of cargo make the operation more complex, Sloane said.