ISMAILIA, Egypt (AP) – Dredgers, tugs and even a backhoe failed to free a giant freighter trapped in Egypt’s Suez Canal on Thursday as the number of piled ships unable to pass the vital waterway increased up to 150 and losses mounted worldwide shipping.
The skyscraper-sized Ever Given, transporting cargo between Asia and Europe, ran aground on Tuesday in the narrow, man-made channel that separates continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula. Even with the help of high water, authorities have failed to push the Panamanian-flagged container ship aside, and are looking for new ideas to liberate it.
As a sign of the unrest caused by the blockage, the Japanese owner of the ship even offered a written apology.
“We are committed to continuing to work hard to resolve this situation as soon as possible,” said Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd. “We would like to apologize to all parties affected by this incident, including those ships that are traveling and intending to travel through the Suez Canal.”
When efforts to free the ship resumed in daylight on Thursday, an Egyptian canal authority official said the workers hoped to avoid unloading containers from the ship as it would take days to do so and extend the closure. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak to journalists.
So far, dredgers have attempted to clean up sludge around the huge vessel. Tugs pushed the ship next to them in an attempt to gain momentum. From the shore, at least one excavator dug into the sandy shores of the canal, suggesting that the ship’s bow had been plowed into it. Satellite photos taken Thursday by Planet Labs Inc. and analyzed by The Associated Press, however, showed that the ship was still trapped in the same location.
Lieutenant General Osama Rabei, the head of the canal authority, said navigation through the waterway would remain halted until the Ever Given returns to the water. A team from Boskalis, a Dutch company specializing in salvage, arrived at the canal on Thursday, although one of the top officials warned that the removal of the ship could take ‘days to weeks’.
A team from Boskalis subsidiary SMIT “has been carrying out inspections and calculations all day long to assess the condition of the ship and to make a plan to refloat the ship,” spokesman Martijn Schuttevaer told the AP. He did not offer a timetable.
The Suez Canal Authority said one idea the team discussed was to scrape the bottom of the canal around the ship.
Boskalis chairman Peter Berdowski described the ship on Wednesday as “a very heavy whale on the beach”.
“The ship, with the weight it has now, cannot really be pulled free. You can forget it, ‘he told the Dutch current affairs program’ Nieuwsuur ‘.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the company that operates the Ever Given, said the 25-person crew was safe and responsible. Shoei Kisen Kaisha said the entire crew was from India.
The vessel had two pilots from the Egyptian Canal Authority on board to escort it when the grounding took place at around 7:45 AM on Tuesday, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement said.
Channel service provider Leth Agencies said at least 150 ships were awaiting approval from the Ever Given, including ships near Port Said on the Mediterranean, Port Suez on the Red Sea and ships already trapped in the canal system at Great Bitter Lake in Egypt.
Cargo ships already in the canal behind the Ever Given will be returned south to Port Suez to free the canal, Leth Agencies said. Authorities hope to do the same with the once given when they can free him.
Evergreen Marine Corp., a major Taiwan-based shipping company that operates the ship, said the Ever Given was overwhelmed by high winds as it entered the channel, something Egyptian officials also said earlier. High winds and a sandstorm ravaged the area on Tuesday, with gusts of wind up to 50 km / h (30 mph).
An initial report suggested that the ship had suffered a power outage prior to the incident, something Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement denied.
“Initial investigations rule out mechanical or engine failure as a cause of grounding,” the company said.
In Japan, Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters that the Suez Canal is part of a crucial international seaway and that the Japanese government was gathering information and working with local authorities.
The shutdown could affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Middle East, which depend on the channel to keep them from sailing around Africa. The price of the international benchmark Brent oil was over $ 63 a barrel on Thursday.
Overall, famed shipping magazine Lloyd’s List estimates that every day the Suez Canal is closed, more than $ 9 billion in goods that are supposed to pass through the waterway are disrupting. A quarter of all traffic on the Suez Canal per day comes from container ships such as the Ever Given, the magazine said.
“Blocking something like the Suez Canal really sets some dominoes in motion that topple each other,” said Lars Jensen, CEO of Denmark-based SeaIntelligence Consulting. “The effect will not only be the simple, immediate effect, delaying cargo in the coming weeks, but will affect the supply chain even several months later.”
Built in 2018 with a length of nearly 400 meters (a quarter of a mile) and a beam of 59 meters (193 feet), the Ever Given is one of the largest cargo ships in the world. It can transport about 20,000 containers at a time. It had previously been in ports in China before it left for Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal is a vital link for oil, natural gas and freight. It also remains one of the top foreign exchange earners in Egypt. In 2015, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s government completed a major expansion of the canal, allowing it to accommodate the largest ships in the world. However, the Ever Given ran aground south of that new part of the canal.
Beaching Tuesday marks just the last to hit sailors during the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands are trapped on board ships as a result of the pandemicMeanwhile, demands on shipping have increased, putting more pressure on tired sailors.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, UAE. Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Isabel DeBre in Dubai and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands contributed.