[ad_1]
The Smit Salvage team is expected to arrive at the site Thursday, where Ever Ever ran aground during a sandstorm, said Peter Berdowski, CEO of parent company Boskalis.
“It’s like a heavy whale thrown onto the beach,” Berdowski told Dutch television news channel Nieuwsuur on Wednesday about the challenges of towing a boat.
“I don’t want to guess, but it could take days or even weeks.”
Egypt has suspended shipping on one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes due to a stuck ship, and Japan’s shipowners have said they face “extreme difficulties.”
Berdowski said the team heading to the location will consider a number of factors when deciding the best way to catch a 400-meter boat flying the Panamanian flag.
PHOTO GALLERY. A ship is trapped in the Suez Canal
“We will estimate how much fuel it contains and how much water it is, which are difficult calculations,” he explained.
Smit Salvage, which was acquired by Boskalis in 2010, has participated in several of the most famous rescue operations in recent years, including the launch of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk and the Italian cruiser Costa Concordia.
The company says it has “emergency response bases” in Rotterdam, Houston, Cape Town and Singapore, in addition to rescuing ships, removing wreckage and pumping hazardous materials from stranded ships.
The ship was threatened by global shipping
A skyscraper-sized container ship stranded in Egypt’s Suez Canal threatened global shipping on Thursday, with at least 150 other ships waiting to cross this vital waterway, authorities said.
The Panamanian-flagged MV Ever Given, carrying cargo between Asia and Europe, got stuck in this narrow canal that separates the African continent from the Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday.
Attempts are being made to free the ship through dredging, excavation and flooding, but so far the efforts have been unsuccessful.
The incident affects billions of dollars (euros) in cargo. The global turmoil over the blockade of this Suez Canal is also illustrated by the fact that the Japanese shipowners issued a written apology on Thursday.
“We are determined to continue working hard to resolve this situation as soon as possible,” writes Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd. “We would like to apologize to all parties affected by this incident, including the ships planning to navigate the Suez Canal.”
Egypt’s Suez Canal Administration (SCA) said Thursday it was “suspending shipping” on one of the world’s most used waterways until MV Ever Given was closed.
“Shipping officials said 13 ships from the northern convoy, [plaukiančios] through Port Said, it had to pass, but … they remain moored in transit areas, “said SCA spokesman George Safwat.
Not many other boats can move
Egyptian officials sent eight large ships to lift the beached ship from the bottom of the canal.
The work was not carried out overnight but resumed Thursday morning, said an SCA official who declined to reveal his name. According to him, the workers hope they will not have to unload the containers from the stuck ship, as it would take many days.
So far, dredgers are trying to clean up the mud around the huge ship and tugs are trying to bring it down. At least one bulldozer is digging the sandy shore of the canal and this would indicate that the bow of the ship has slid into it.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the company that manages MV Ever Given, said the ship’s 25-member crew was safe. Shoei Kisen Kaisha indicated that all the crew members were from India.
At the time of the boat on Tuesday at about 7 pm 45 min. it ran aground in local time, with two SCA pilots, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement said.
Leth Agencies, which serves customers on the canal, said at least 150 ships were waiting to have the MV Ever Given towed. There are ships waiting at Port Said on the Mediterranean, at Port Taufik on the Red Sea, and in the canal system on Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake.
Merchant ships behind the MV Ever Given in the canal itself will be diverted back south to Port Taufika, Leth Agencies said. Officials hope they can direct MV Ever Given there as well.
The ship’s operator, Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine Corp., said in a statement that MV Ever Given, which entered the Red Sea Canal, was blown off course by a strong wind, but none of its containers sank.
An Egyptian official, who was unwilling to announce his name, also blamed the wind. Egyptian meteorologists said a sandstorm with wind gusts of 50 kilometers per hour broke out in the area on Tuesday.
An initial report said the ship had lost power before the incident, but Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement denied this on Thursday.
“The original investigation ruled out any possibility of mechanical or engine failure as the cause of the grounding,” the company said.
Billions of goods
The famous shipping magazine Lloyd’s List reports that, in total, one day of the closure of the Suez Canal interrupts more than 9 billion. the movement of goods worth dollars (7.6 billion euros) in this waterway. A quarter of the daily traffic in the Suez Canal is related to container ships such as the MV Ever Given.
Built in 2018, the MV Ever Given, which is almost 400m long and 59m wide, is among the largest merchant ships in the world and can carry approximately 20,000 ships at a time. containers. She was previously in Chinese ports and sailed to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal is an important route for the transportation of oil, natural gas, and cargo. 10% travel in it. all cargo in international maritime trade.
Last year, 19 thousand people crossed the canal. ships carrying more than 1 billion tons of cargo, according to SCA.
The canal remains one of the most important sources of foreign exchange for Egypt. Last year, the country received 5.61 billion from him. revenue ($ 4.72 billion).
In 2015, Egypt’s President Abdel Fatahas al Sisi held a grand ceremony by opening a new 35-kilometer-long branch line dug during the year, parallel to the old canal. The last 37 km section has also been improved.
Since then, new records have been set for the amount of cargo carried and the size and number of ships passing.
MV Ever Given ran aground to the south of this new stretch of canal.
Tuesday’s incident is another series of hurdles for sailors during the coronavirus pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands of people. At that time, the demand for shipping services increased, increasing the burden for seafarers.
[ad_2]
