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SUEZ, EGYPT – The number of ships waiting to enter the Suez Canal is increasing as the waterway remains blocked. Data compiled by Bloomberg indicates that there are at least 429 ships, compared to about 100 at the start of the lockdown six days ago. Work continues to try to unseat container ship Ever Given. Losses reach $ 400 million per hour.
The aggravating factor is that there are at least 14 vessels that transport live cargo, with thousands of animals, although the so-called bulk carriers, which carry goods, such as grain and iron ore, are the majority of the ships trapped in the canal.
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Container ship runs aground and blocks the Suez Canal
Seven ships loaded with 92,000 animals that were due to reach Aqaba, Lebanon, on the 21st of this month, are stranded.
A shipment of 130,000 sheep, in 11 boats that left Romania, stops in Suez. “The situation is critical and could turn into an unprecedented maritime tragedy involving live animals,” warns the organization Animals International.
Egypt sent fodder and three teams of veterinarians to examine the animals. And Jordan said he expects both sheep and calves, among other locked goods in Suez.
See photos of the 400-meter boat stranded in Egypt’s Suez Canal
The tugs managed to move Ever Given about 29 meters on Saturday, and the dredgers released their propellers from the canal mud. The head of the Suez Canal Authority refused to set a schedule for the new ship’s float, saying the task remains “difficult.”
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Without a statement, the Suez Canal Authority said in a statement that it has so far moved 27,000 cubic meters of sand around the ship to reach a depth of 18 meters.
About 12% of world trade flows through the canal and about 1 million barrels of oil per day. Canal officials estimate that Egypt loses between $ 12 million and $ 14 million a day with the closure, while Lloyd’s List magazine estimates that the bottling of ships in the region already causes losses in the order of $ 9.6 billion (more than R $ 53 billion) – equivalent to US $ 400 million per hour – in goods per day.
The problem of blocked ships carrying oil mainly affects Syria. Devastated by war and subjected to international sanctions, the country suffers a delay in shipments of oil products from ally Iran. Damascus, already facing shortages, announced a new rationing on Saturday.
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Blocking routes through the stranded ship can even cause instant coffee shortages and affect the supply of toilet paper.
Moody’s: timing couldn’t be worse
The temporary closure of the canal could affect 10-15% of container movement worldwide, Moody’s Investor Service estimated earlier this week. Under normal circumstances, temporary delays in global supply chains would not be a “major problem,” according to the report.
However, a global shortage in container capacity and low service reliability have made supply chains highly vulnerable to external shocks, despite high consumer demand, its analysts said.
There is another factor that complicates it even more. According to Lloyd’s List, 90% of ocean cargo is not insured in case of delay.
Several maritime transport giants, such as the Danish Maersk and the French CMA CGM, diverted some of their ships via Cabo da Boa Esperança, on a journey of 9,000 kilometers around the African continent and seven more days.
According to Maersk, all the ships that were blocked on Saturday would take between “three and six days” to cross the channel.
Before the end of this weekend, 32 ships of the world leader in maritime transport and its partners will be affected, 15 will pass by another route, a figure that may increase if the Ever Given stranding takes time, the company said.
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“The timing of this event could not have been worse,” analysts, including Daniel Harlid, wrote in a March 25 report.
Categories with the highest number of vessels waiting
- Graneieiros: 82
- Container ship: 72
- General cargo ship: 35
- Chemical tankers: 32
- Oil workers (crude): 27
- Vehicle carrier: 17
- Livestock transporters (live load): at least 14
- Ships for the transport of liquefied petroleum gas: 11
- Methane tanker for natural gas transportation: 8
- Total: 429
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