The 193km (120-mile) Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea at the canal’s northern end to the Red Sea in the south and provides the shortest sea link between Asia and Europe. On this occasion, reports suggest traffic could be flowing again relatively quickly, in which case the impact will be limited, although there has been a rise in the oil price. “This is the largest vessel ever to go aground in the Suez Canal,” he said, adding that the ship got lodged in the embankment and would have lost power and its ability to steer.
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Satellite images show the position of the Ever Given vessel on Tuesday at 08.35 GMT as it was blocking the Suez Canal. Dutch marine services company Boskalis said its subsidiary Smit Salvage had been hired to help with the operation and was sending 10 people to Egypt. Disruptions caused by the coronavirus and a surge in demand for retail goods by consumers have led to wider logistical bottlenecks around the world for container lines and supplies in recent months. Shipping sources said that if delays in freeing the Ever Given extend, ships could potentially start re-routing around Africa, which takes a week longer to navigate, if they were unable to sail through the Canal. Of a reminder” of the vulnerability of the canal and its potential for global disruption. The obstruction could prove embarrassing for Egypt, where the waterway long has been a symbol of national pride.
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The ship set sail again on 7 July 2021, stopping for inspections at Port Said before continuing to its original destination, port of Rotterdam. Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said it was working to refloat the ship, with the authority’s chairman saying older sections of the canal were being opened in a bid to ease the bottleneck of backed-up marine traffic. Shipping journal Lloyd’s List estimates that the closed waterway is tying up billions of dollars of goods each day the canal is closed — at a time when the coronavirus pandemic is already causing demand in consumer goods to surge. In addition to oil, liquified natural gas from the Persian Gulf and furniture, clothes and supermarket basics from China use the canal to avoid taking a circuitous 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) route around Africa. Cargo ships have grown in recent years to take on more containers as fuel prices have risen because big boats burn less fuel per container moved.
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SUEZ, Egypt (AP) — Salvage teams on Monday set free a colossal container ship that has halted global trade through the Suez Canal, bringing an end to a crisis that for nearly a week had clogged one of the world’s most vital maritime arteries. It was freed six days later following a salvage operation that involved a flotilla of tug boats and dredging vessels, and during which one person was killed. On average, nearly 50 vessels per day pass along the canal, although at times the number can be much higher – accounting for some 12% of world trade. It is particularly important as an avenue for oil and liquified natural gas, enabling shipments to get from the Middle East to Europe. But the vital waterway was blocked when the 400m-long (1,312ft) Ever Given became wedged across it after running aground amid high winds. One of the largest cargo container ships in the world has turned sideways and blocked all traffic in Egypt’s Suez Canal, threatening to disrupt a global shipping system already strained by the coronavirus pandemic.
GAC said on Wednesday on its website that 15 other ships in the northbound convoy behind the Ever Given were detained at anchorages waiting for the canal to be cleared. The first ship from a convoy that had been blocked by the stranded vessel in the Suez Canal is on the move, indicating a resumption of traffic in the waterway, a shipping source and witness told Reuters. Not only will deliveries be delayed, but the jam also prevents the return of empty containers back to Asia, exacerbating a container shortage caused by the pandemic’s disruptions to shipping. While the supersize of ships can increase their risk of running aground in the Suez Canal, boats just as big buffeted by winds just as strong have passed through the waterway without incident before. After almost a week blocking the Suez Canal, a 400m-long (1,300ft) container ship is finally on the move again. The freeing of the vessel came after dredgers vacuumed up sand and mud from the vessel’s bow and 10 tugboats pushed and pulled the vessel for five days, managing to partially refloat it at dawn.
Plymouth City Council said the project was looking at when ships will be bigger and greener. The authority’s cabinet will consider moving £4m away from other projects and into the port scheme. “If they are unable to pull her free… in a high tide, they are going to have to start removing cargo.”
“If you end up having to revert to using the longer route then you will get two to three weeks of disruption to world trade whilst it tries to sort itself out, plus the added expenses of the longer journey,” he said. As maritime authorities in Egypt had to reopen an older section of the Suez Canal to divert traffic after the Ever Given blocked it in both directions, an expert said that the incident is a reminder of the vulnerability of the passage. The SCA initially asked for $916m, including $300m for a salvage bonus and $300m for loss of reputation. But UK Club rejected the claim, describing it as “extraordinarily large” and “largely unsupported”. It is due to undergo an inspection by divers at Port Said before sailing to Rotterdam in the Netherlands and then to the UK port of Felixstowe where it will offload its containers, the Wall Street Journal reported.
BSM confirmed on Wednesday that all crew were “safe and accounted for”, with no reports of injuries. In a statement, it said its “immediate priorities are to safely re-float the vessel and for marine traffic in the Suez Canal to safely resume”. A large part of the bulbous bow of the Ever Given was stuck in the shore of the Suez Canal, as excavator cranes were seen trying to dig out the the ship.
Several dozen ships could also be seen grouped around the northern and southern entrances to the canal. BSM, which handles the ship’s crew and technical issues, said all the crew were safe and there had been no reports of injuries or pollution. It said it had notified the authorities and “interested parties”, but that it could not confirm the ship’s owner. So far, there are at least 30 container ships being affected by the disruption. For days it was lodged diagonally on one of the world’s key shipping lanes, causing traffic to build up and other ships to be rerouted.
- The nightmare scenario, then, is for this crucial route to be blocked – which is exactly what has now happened with the stranding of the Ever Given.
- Mr Rabie said in May that the Ever Given had struggled to steer and ran aground despite the efforts of two escort tugs because it was moving at a “very high” speed and its rudder’s size “was not appropriate”, external.
- At least 30 ships were blocked to the north of the Ever Given, and three to the south, local sources said.
- Eight tug boats are working to refloat the ship, and diggers on the ground have been removing sand from where it is wedged into the side of the canal bank.
- “This is the largest vessel ever to go aground in the Suez Canal,” he said, adding that the ship got lodged in the embankment and would have lost power and its ability to steer.
- As it got under way, Egyptian TV showed footage of the captain and a crew member being presented with flowers and a plaque on board the ship.
The obstruction occurred south of the two-channel section of the canal, so there was no way around it for other ships. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) engaged Boskalis through its subsidiary Smit International to manage marine salvage operations.[6][7] The blockage of one of the world’s busiest trade routes[8] significantly slowed trade between Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The container ship was refloated following a six-day salvage operation that involved a flotilla of tug boats and dredging vessels. Eight tug boats have been deployed to free one of the world’s largest container ship, though local sources said efforts could shift towards digging the ship out if the marine vessels were unable to release it. Ship operators did not offer a timeline for the reopening of the crucial canal, which carries over 10% of global trade, including 7% of the world’s oil.
In such cases, “you really have to do the calculations to understand how solidly she (is) grounded, and how much power you can exert without damaging the vessel,” Boskalis spokesman Martijn Schuttevaer told Reuters. Instead, it’s likely that “a combination of factors” was at play, said Ian Woods, a marine cargo lawyer and partner with the firm Clyde & Co. The Ever Given, operated by Evergreen Marine Corp, became stuck last Tuesday during a sandstorm.
The details of the financial settlement between the SCA and the ship’s owners and insurers have also not been revealed. Mr Rabie refused to even give a rough estimate of how much of a compensation the SCA received. The SCA initially asked for $916m compensation, including $300m for a salvage bonus and $300m for loss of reputation.
Since then, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has been seeking compensation from the Ever Given’s Japanese owner Shoei Kisen for the cost of the salvage operation, damage to the canal’s banks and other losses. Fears that the blockage could tie up shipments of crude oil caused prices to rise by 4% on international markets on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Dozens of vessels are stuck, waiting for rescue boats to free the 400m-long (1,312ft) ship, which was knocked off course by strong winds. The Ever Given, registered in Panama and operated by the shipping company Evergreen, was bound for the port city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands from China, external and was passing northwards through the canal on its way to the Mediterranean. The approximate rate of backlog is about 50 vessels a day and any delays leading to re-routings would add 15 days to a Middle East-to-Europe voyage, Vortexa told Reuters news agency. At least 30 ships were blocked to the north of the Ever Given, and three to the south, local sources said.
The SCA later lowed its demand to $550m, but the owners and insurers reportedly offered to pay $150m. UK Club, which insured the Ever Given’s owner Shoei Kisen for third-party liabilities, announced on Sunday that a “formal solution” had been agreed with the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), external to settle their dispute over compensation. At a news conference, Suez Canal Authority chairman Osama Rabie said the ship was the sole responsibility of its master. Journalists were taken on a tugboat to film the Ever Given finally resuming its voyage along the Suez Canal. The final settlement, which has not been revealed, was agreed a few days ago and signed on Wednesday to coincide with the ship’s release.