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Aerial view of the northern entrance to the Suez Canal. At the bottom right are the dozens of ships that have been waiting for three days to enter the canal, in which Ever Given is stuck. The giant container appears wedged in the upper left (photo by Reuters / Planet Labs).
Επ maritime traffic jams of epic proportions are now being reported north and south of the Suez Canal, which is expected to cost the world market billions and has already driven up global oil prices and container freight costs.
The container ship Ever Given, which has been stuck in the canal for half a week, has caused a serious problem in the global maritime market, separating Europe from Asia on Tuesday morning.
An estimated $ 10 billion worth of goods flow daily through the Suez Canal, now waiting to be loaded onto dozens of ships north, south and middle of the canal.
The estimates even speak of days of work that will be necessary to remove the huge container that has run aground, due to the strong winds of the early hours of Tuesday.
Maritime giant Maersk and Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd said Thursday they were considering diverting their ships to the Cape of Good Hope, a detour of thousands of kilometers around the African continent. A possible diversion of the Suez Canal in Africa, as was the case until a century and a half ago, is estimated at an additional $ 300,000 in fuel costs.
As Money Review points out, the last thing international trade needed now was to close the artery through which 12% of global shipping passes. Every day that passes without the Canal opening, it takes 3-5 million barrels of oil to reach its destination.
Mohab Mamis, an advisor to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on port issues, told AFP late Thursday that shipping would resume “within a maximum period of 48 to 72 hours.”
“I have experience with many rescue operations of this type and, as the former president of the Suez Canal Authority, I know every inch of the canal,” added Mamis, who oversaw the recent widening of this passage through which it passes, as reported. experts, about 10% of international maritime trade.
However, a few hours earlier, the Dutch company Smit Salvage had predicted that the company could last “days or even weeks”.
Source: Reuters, Bloomberg, ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
