[ad_1]
The Ever Given, a container ship almost as long as the Empire State Building, ran aground in the Egyptian Channel on Tuesday after being caught in 40-knot winds and a sandstorm.
The pilot, who is not authorized to speak to the media but works for the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), believes that several factors are now contributing to the anticipated success of the rescue operation, including the near completion of work on dredging, expected high tides and the availability of powerful tugs.
High tide, scheduled for 10 pm local (4 pm ET), is a major factor in the rescue operation. Several other attempts in recent days have failed.
A team of salvage experts from Dutch firm SMIT Salvage and Japan’s Nippon Salvage, who have worked on several high-profile operations in the past, have been appointed to help the SCA refloat the ship, the charter company said. Evergreen Marine in a statement.
Authorities say they have removed nearly 706,000 cubic feet of sand to free Ever Given.
When asked if the authorities had other plans in case of failure, the official told CNN: “This is our only option now.”
At a press conference on Saturday, SCA President Osama Rabie gave details of the rescue operation, which he described as “technically difficult” and “involving many factors.”
“We are facing a difficult and complicated situation, we work on rocky ground, the tides are very high, in addition to the enormous size of the ship and the number of containers that make it difficult,” he said. “We cannot set a specific date for the ship to float, it depends on the ship’s response.”
The ship was “very responsive” on Friday, leading to optimism that work could be completed that night, he said. However, the operation had to be stopped due to the tides.
About 9,000 tonnes of ballast water has been removed from the ship, Rabie said, and the dredging was carried out during low tides while 14 tugs worked during high tides. Rescuers managed to temporarily restart the rudder and propellers Friday night before a low tide halted their efforts, he said.
In contrast to the pilot’s comment, Rabie described another scenario that would require them to lighten the ship’s load by removing the containers, a laborious and time-consuming process that “hopefully” they would not have to resort to.
About 321 ships are currently waiting to transit the canal without detours from inside the canal at this point, he said.
Rabie said the reasons for the accident remain unclear. “There are many factors or reasons, the fast winds and the sandstorm could have been a reason, but not the main reason, it could have been a technical error or a human error,” he said. “There will be more investigations.”
Rabie added that several countries, including the United States, China, Greece and the United Arab Emirates, had offered assistance to vacate the ship.
Pulling power
If the last attempt to refloat the ship fails, the ship, which is 400 meters (1,312 feet) long and 59 meters (193 feet) wide, could still be released “early next week,” according to established plans. by the director of a Dutch salvage company.
Peter Berdowski of Boskalis, a sister company of SMIT Salvage, told Dutch TV news “Nieuwsuur” on Friday that a more thorough investigation has shown that the ship’s stern “is not completely sunk in the clay.”
That would allow heavy tugs to take advantage of “lever power” by pulling the stern, he said.
He said the hope was that his pulling power, combined with dredging work, a 16 to 20-inch high tide next week, and the relatively free ship’s stern lever power, would be enough “to free the ship at sometime. starting next week. “
If that fails, the next step would be to remove up to 600 containers. “In parallel, we are already mobilizing a crane,” Berdowski said. “This will also be delivered this weekend, which will allow us to remove the containers from the front of the ship.”
Fear for cattle
Meanwhile, billions of dollars in vital cargo and sensitive products are behind on the hundreds of ships whose path is blocked.
The maritime monitoring website Marine Traffic told CNN that 13 of the ships awaiting transit were transporting livestock, bound for different countries in Europe and Asia.
The EU director of the NGO Animals International, Gabriel Paun, warned that thousands of animals transported on the boats, mostly Romanian, could be at risk of dying if the situation is not resolved in the coming days.
Currently, more ships carrying livestock are approaching the Suez Canal, Paun said.
“We are sitting in front of a great tragedy if the canal is not released in the next 24 hours because there are vessels that will be left without [livestock] food and water for the next two days, “said Paun.
Some ships have food and water for six more days and “if they decide to return to Romania today, then they have a chance, but if the blockade lasts for two to six more days, we will have a disaster,” added Paun.
A ship carrying cattle, the Nabolsi, has been sailing for 21 days after leaving Colombia on March 6, and now awaits passage through the blocked canal with animals on board, Marine Traffic spokesman Georgios Hatzimanolis said.
SCA’s Rabie said there were three boats with cattle in the canal and that the Egyptian Ministry of Health had sent them food for animals and veterinarians.
More than 18,800 ships with a net tonnage of 1.17 billion tons passed through the canal during 2020. That’s an average of 51.5 ships per day.
Ship diversion
At least 10 ships, including tankers and LNG tankers and container ships, had deviated from the canal as of Friday, according to Marine Traffic and data intelligence firm Kpler.
“There are already several ships … without passing [the route from the Mediterranean into the canal] and now we’re heading south … it’s the right time to make that decision, “said Lars Jensen, director of Sea Intelligence Consulting, a firm that provides consulting to the shipping industry.
The Indian government said on Friday that it had advised its shipping lines to explore the option of changing the route of ships through the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, according to a statement from the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
He pointed out that said route change 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, according to the statement. The ministry added that it would identify and prioritize perishable cargo for its movement.
Even before the Ever Given ran aground, global supply chains were being stretched to the limit, making it much more expensive to transport goods around the world. A prolonged closure of the key route between Asia, Europe and North America would only make matters worse.
Discussing the issue of potential damage claims, Toshiaki Fujiwara, senior managing director of Shoei Kisen KK, the ship’s owner, said on Friday that “the company has not received any claims at this time,” adding that “it may be necessary a [to] two or several years to get to those details. “
Evergreen Marine, the Taiwanese company that operates Ever Given, has claimed that Shoei Kisen KK is responsible for the accident, Fujiwara confirmed.
Magdy Samaan reported from Cairo and Mostafa Salem from Abu Dhabi, while Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London. CNN’s Mick Krever, Sugam Pokharel, Tim Lister, and Pamela Boykoff contributed to this report.
[ad_2]