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Sources in the shipping sector said Thursday that the suspension of traffic in the Suez Canal exacerbates the problems of shipping companies, which already face interruptions and delays in the supply of goods to consumers.
Container shipping companies, which carry various retail products, from cell phones and clothing to bananas, have been suffering for months from the coronavirus pandemic and increased demand, increasing bottlenecks in the sector. of logistics around the world.
In the latest challenge, sources said more than 30 container ships were unable to navigate after the 400-meter-long fugitive Evergiven in the Suez Canal, causing transit traffic to stop. “At a time when supply chains are under pressure, a large container ship is closing one of the world’s major trade routes … as the Suez Canal Authority works to liberalize the canal, congestion increases and supplies production is stuck in the canal. “said Joanna Konings, chief economist at ING. It will affect supply chains. ”Swiss MSC, the world’s second-largest container shipping company, said that all major container ships have been affected by the scale in the Suez Canal.
The Suez Canal ensures the passage of 10 percent of international maritime commercial traffic. At least 18,000 ships cross the canal annually, according to Egyptian officials.
Commercial and maritime sources said the impact on the transfer of goods from manufacturers in Asia to buyers in Europe may increase, depending on the extent of the continued delays in the Suez Canal. Leon Wilms, a spokesman for the port of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port, said demand for logistics services already exceeded capacity before the Suez Canal incident. “All western European ports will be affected. It is now 48 hours and we wait for all businesses and consumers to finish soon,” he said.
As Egypt continues its efforts to eject the massive container ship, Dutch company “Smit Salvage” run by the “Evergreen Marine Corp” group that operates the Taiwan-based vessel, to help evacuate the ship, said the process could delay. “days. or even weeks.” This was confirmed by Peter Berdowski, CEO of “Royal Boscalis”, the parent company of the Dutch company, saying: “It is a very heavy whale on the beach, so to speak.”
The Suez Canal Authority announced the suspension of navigation traffic “temporarily” until the floating of the huge container tanker “MV Evergiven” is completed, which is 400 meters long and 59 meters wide and with a total load of 224 thousand tons. It ran aground during a flight from China bound for Rotterdam on the south side of the canal, near the city of Suez.
Russia is promoting an alternative sea route
Meanwhile, Russia on Thursday reopened the northern seaway as an “alternative” to the Suez Canal. Russian President Vladimir Putin has long promoted this shipping route along the Russian Arctic coast as a competitor to the Suez Canal, and Russia has taken advantage of canal congestion to replay this chord.
Russia’s state Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom sarcastically offered three reasons for “viewing the northern seaway as a vital alternative to the Suez Canal route.”
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