The Ever Given, a container ship nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall, ran aground in the Egyptian channel on Tuesday after being caught in a 40-knot wind and sandstorm.
It is now hoped that tugboats can take advantage of the winds and tides to dislodge the 224,000-ton ship on Saturday, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chief Osama Rabie told Egyptian news outlet Youm7.
The towing and towing maneuvers for the ship began Friday evening, with nine tugs pulling in front of the giant container ship after the dredging work was completed, Rabie said.
He added that tow maneuvers require the availability of several factors, including wind and tides.
More than 260 ships await transit through the blocked waterway – including 13 with livestock – and the total number is expected to increase as the crisis continues, maritime monitoring website Marine Traffic told CNN.
If the latest attempt to refloat the ship fails, the ship – which is 400 meters long and 59 meters wide – could still be liberated ‘early next week’, according to the plans of the head of a Dutch salvage company.
Peter Berdowski of Boskalis, a sister company of the Dutch firm SMIT Salvage, told the Dutch TV news “Nieuwsuur” that their plan A is to try to unload the ship without removing containers from the deck.
“Two heavy tugs are on the way,” he said Friday night. “Together they have a tractive force of about 400 tons. So they are really big guys. They will arrive this weekend.”
Most importantly, he said, a more thorough investigation revealed that the stern of the ship was “not pushed all the way into the clay.” That would allow tugs to take advantage of leverage by pulling the stern, he said.
He said the hope is that their bollard pull – combined with dredging work now underway, a 40 to 50 centimeter flood next week and the ‘leverage’ of the ship’s stern which is relatively free, would be enough to release. to let. ship sometime early next week. “
Failing that, Berdowski has also drawn up a plan B.
“At the same time, we are already mobilizing a crane,” he said. “This will also be delivered this weekend, allowing us to pick up containers from the front of the ship.”
He said it would be possible to remove up to 600 containers to lighten the load on the bow of the ship and thus on the canal bank.
“Removing the ship is one thing, but you also have to dispose of those 600 containers somewhere,” he said. “Right next to the ship is just desert. So removing those containers will also be a puzzle.”
That could mean a further delay of days. “But most importantly, we basically put everything in order to take the necessary steps, in a logical order,” said Berdowski.
Fear of livestock
Meanwhile, billions of dollars in vital cargo and sensitive products are left behind on the barred ships, including those carrying livestock destined for various countries in Europe and Asia.
The EU director of the NGO Animals International Gabriel Paun warned that thousands of animals transported on 13 ships – mostly Romanian – are at risk of dying if the situation is not resolved in the coming days.
More ships carrying livestock are currently approaching the Suez Canal, Paun said.
“We are in for a great tragedy if the channel is not released in the next 24 hours because there are ships running out. [livestock] food and drink for the next two days, ”said Paun.
Some ships still have six days of food and water and “if they decide to return to Romania today, they have a chance – but if the blockade lasts for another two to six days, we will have a disaster,” added Paun.
A livestock vessel, the Nabolsi, is sailing 21 days after its departure from Colombia on March 6 and is now awaiting passage through the blocked channel with animals on board, Marine Traffic spokesman Georgios Hatzimanolis said.
In 2020, more than 18,800 ships with a net tonnage of 1.17 billion tons passed the canal. That is an average of 51.5 ships per day.
Divert ships
At least ten ships, including oil and LNG tankers and container ships, were diverted from the canal as of Friday, according to Marine Traffic and data intelligence company Kpler.
“There are already several ships … circumventing [the route from the Mediterranean into the canal] and now heading south… now is the right time to make that decision, ”said Lars Jensen, the head of Sea Intelligence Consulting, a company that provides advice to the marine industry.
“So for now it will seem like the ships that are waiting in line [in the canal], would just cross [their] fingers and hope this will be resolved, ”he added.
According to a statement by India’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Indian government said on Friday that it had advised its shipping companies to investigate the possibility of diverting ships via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa while the situation in the channel has been resolved. .
It noted that such rerouting usually takes an additional 15 days.
This Suez Canal route is used by Indian exporters and importers for $ 200 billion worth of trade with North America, South America and Europe, the statement said. The ministry added that it would identify perishable cargo and prioritize relocation.
Even before the Ever Given ran aground, global supply chains were stretched to the limit, making it much more expensive to move goods around the world and leading to shortages of some products. A prolonged closure of the main route between Asia, Europe and North America would only make the situation worse.
Toshiaki Fujiwara, senior managing director of Shoei Kisen KK, discussed the issue of potential insurance claims and said on Friday that “the company has not received any claims at this time,” adding that “it may cost one. [to] two or more years to come up with those details. “
Evergreen Marine, the Taiwanese company that operates the vessel, has claimed Shoei Kisen KK is responsible for the accident, Fujiwara confirmed.
Magdy Samaan reported from Cairo, Mostafa Salem from Abu Dhabi and Mick Krever from London, while Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London. CNN’s Jessie Yeung, Sugam Pokharel, Tim Lister and Pamela Boykoff contributed to this report.