The Suez Canal Crisis … the Success of the Operation to Float the Rogue Ship



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The operation to float the ship, which stopped navigating the Suez Canal since March 22, was successful early Monday. The head of the canal authority, Lieutenant General Osama Rabie, announced that the ship’s route would be changed by 80 percent and that it was moving 4 to 102 meters away from the coast.

He indicated that navigation traffic on the canal will resume as soon as the ship is towed to the waiting area at the lakes for examination. The images showed the container ship, which ran aground after a dust storm, righted itself and returned to its normal course on the waterway.

Immediately, oil prices fell in morning trading. Brent crude fell 2.1 percent to $ 63.19 a barrel, while US crude fell 2.4 percent to $ 59.49 a barrel, noting that about 30 percent of the containers of Transportation in the world, and about 12 percent of total world trade, pass daily. , which is 193 kilometers long.

The favorable movement of the tides and the attachment of a large marine tug to the rescue efforts contributed to the success of the flotation operation. Peter Berdowski, CEO of the Dutch company “Boscalis” that manages the company “Smet Salvage” involved in the efforts to free the stranded ship, said: “What was mentioned about the partial float is good news, but the completion the process will not be easy. “

He explained that “a new locomotive will arrive in the canal and water will be pumped under the bow of the ship to help free it, but if these efforts are unsuccessful, they will likely have to reduce their load, in a process that will be complicated and lengthy. and needs international assistance. “

Regarding the “BSM” company that manages the ship, he said: “Further attempts to float the ship will continue when the new tug is in a safe position, along with 11 other locomotives present on site.”

The “dredgers” lifted some 27,000 cubic meters of sand to a depth of 18 meters, while the Canal Authority said a rock mass found at the bottom of the ship’s bow may complicate rescue efforts, noting that it has not yet it is clear whether the boat is stuck in soft sand, or embedded, or clay, which will determine how easily they move.

BSM expected another “creak” to come on Tuesday. Experts revealed that the ballast tank at the front of the ship was damaged and the ship would have to be inspected once it floats.

The process of ending the accumulation of some 370 ships waiting to cross the Suez Canal is likely to take around four days, noting that the Canal Operating Authority confirmed the possibility of working 24 hours without stopping to achieve it, and decided to start. moving ships in the Lake District to their southern destination towards the Gulf of Suez, then moving ships from the northern convoy to the port of Port Said.

The ship blocks $ 9 billion in global trade every day, putting supply chains already burdened by the coronavirus pandemic to the test. As of Monday, 367 ships, carrying everything from crude oil to cattle, were still waiting to pass through the canal, while many other ships took the alternate route around the Cape of Good Hope in the southern tip of Africa, adding about two weeks to travel and threatening to delay deliveries.

Economists say the disruption to shipping through the Suez Canal will likely not impact world trade for more than a few weeks, and is unlikely to impede global growth this year as more people around the world access coronavirus vaccines and reopen. economies.

What happened was another “wake-up call” for companies that base their operations on supply chains with little room for error, William Lee, chief economist at the Milken Institute, told The Associated Press. “This is a warning about how vulnerable our supply chains are and how common inventory technologies must be rethought.”

Many countries received a harsh lesson from these facts last year when trade was disrupted in countless ways after the outbreak of the Corona virus in China, the kiss of industrialization in the world. Soon, consumers around the world found that ordering via the Internet was an “inexplicable adventure”, as many factories were closed and trade between provinces stopped.



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