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A ship blocks one of the most important trade routes in the world.
© APA (AFP)
A crashed container ship continued to block the Suez Canal on Wednesday night. Initially, ten tugs tried in vain to free the approximately 400-meter-long ship from its tilted position on one of the most important waterways in the world. The industry service provider GAC corrected the information earlier in the afternoon, according to which the “Ever Given” had partially resurfaced. The price of oil also increased by about six percent due to the accident.
The photos showed bulldozers scraping dirt and rocks from the edge of the canal in the bow of the ship. According to one source, work should continue at night, as weather permits. According to authorities, the freighter ran aground on Tuesday because the captain had poor visibility due to a sandstorm.
Images on social media showed that the freighter had turned on its side. The incident had blocked the important sea route between Asia and Europe. According to ship radars, shipfinder.com and marinetraffic.com, container ship traffic jams formed both north and south of the canal. Shipping companies have reported more than 100 ships waiting in the canal to the Allianz insurance group.
According to the Suez Canal Authority, eight tugs are being used to free the freighter. However, the wind and the size of the ship make their job difficult, according to the GAC. According to the ship’s radars, it’s the “Ever Given” freighter. According to shipfinder.com, it is 400 meters long and almost 59 meters wide. The ship, built in 2018, sails under the Panamanian flag, came from China and is heading to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. According to experts, the freighter is one of the largest container ships in the world.
The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. According to Allianz, about ten percent of world trade passes through this channel. There are not many shipping routes around the Suez Canal. It shortens the sea route from Europe to India by about 7,000 kilometers. That is important at the right time in world trade.
The German Shipowners Association (VDR) hopes that the blockade will end as soon as possible. “The longer the shutdown lasts and the more the uncertainty, the more drastic the effects of this shutdown will be,” said association spokesman Christian Denso from the German press agency. The main problem is that nobody knows if the detour through the southern tip of Africa is worth it. Ships are threatened with long and expensive detours, the alliance warned.
The longer the traffic jam, “the calmer it will be in the port of Hamburg,” Denso said. After that, however, the ships would unite. The “Ever Given” is no stranger to Hamburg. In 2019 it caused a collision with a ferry. Property damage amounting to around one million euros occurred.
The Federation of German Industries warned of rising costs for companies that depend on shipping. Supply chains stalled, among other things due to late ships, said Deputy CEO Holger Lösch. Anyway, the situation in international container transport is tense, the blockade is now tightening it again.
According to the Suez Canal Authority, nearly 19,000 ships passed through the canal in 2020, an average of around 50 a day. In the past, the US Energy Administration also spoke of a “critical bottleneck” for the trade in oil, gas, and petroleum products. This was also noticed on Wednesday in oil prices: they rose sharply.
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