It is not known when the Suez ship will be launched – E24

Reuters writes that the ship has moved a bit, but that it is unclear when it will break loose.

It was at a press conference on Friday that the owners of the Panama-registered ship Ever Given said they expected to release it during the day on Saturday.

He writes, among others, the BBC, Nikkei Asia and CNN.

Ever Given is operated by the Taiwanese company Evergreen, but the owners are the Japanese Shoei Kisen, a subsidiary of the Imabari Shipbuilding shipyard company.

The company says it has contracted ten tugs to unload the 400-meter-long, 200,000-dwt container ship.

The ship got stuck in the Suez Canal after a sandstorm with strong winds in the area.

Typically, more than fifty ships navigate the Suez Canal daily, according to CNN. Hundreds of cargo ships and tankers are now waiting for passage, and some players say they are considering navigate africa. It will require more fuel and can take several extra weeks.

Another option is to navigate the Arctic.

– The boat does not take water, says Yukito Higaki in Shoei Kisen according to the BBC, which refers to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.

– No problem with the rudder and propellers. Once it’s loose, you should be able to navigate, he says.

It may take weeks

Initially, salvage companies have tried to loosen the ship with the help of tugboats and by moving sand, mud and mud (dredging).

Royal Boskalis Westminster Company has been contracted to assist with salvage, through its sister company Smit Salvage. They have previously said that it may take weeks to solve the task, but now they believe it may take a few days.

– We try to do it over the weekend, but then everything should turn out exactly as it should, CEO Peter Berdowski at Boskalis Westminster told Dutch television on Friday. according to Reuters.

According to Boskalis, there will be tugboats with a total capacity of 400 tonnes over the weekend. At the same time, a lot has been dredged around the ship to free it.

If salvage companies also get help from high tide, they may be able to get the ship off early next week, he believes.

– The bow is trapped in clay and sand, but the stern is not completely trapped in clay, which is positive, says Berdowski.

If the ship is too heavy to come loose, it will probably have to move containers to other ships with cranes, writes BBC. This can take a long time. The salvage company is considering moving around 600 containers from the bow to lighten the weight, according to Reuters.

The article was corrected on March 27 at 23: It was previously said that the ship only had 600 containers on board.

Get Extra Help Sunday

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) has technical responsibility for the ship. On Thursday, a larger machine that can move 2,000 cubic meters of sludge and sludge per hour was installed, but BSM said on Friday that attempts so far have been unsuccessful.

Two more tugs will arrive in the area on Sunday, March 28 to help, the company writes in a message on its website.

Ever Given’s crew consists of 25 Indians and they are unharmed, according to BSM. The company claims there have been no mechanical failures or engine damage after grounding.

Affects Norwegian ships

Harald Solberg, executive director of the Norwegian Shipowners Association, informed E24 on Friday that there are 23 Norwegian-owned ships stuck in the “traffic jam” in the Suez Canal.

– It seems that this is increasingly stagnant, it is worrying. We should expect high tide this weekend or some other form of help, he said.

Solberg believes that the ships that have the opportunity are “definitely” considering taking the detour around Africa, especially if the crisis drags on.

– This creates delays in deliveries and shipping has had great challenges in the pandemic already with restrictions and operational difficulties, Solberg said on Friday.

Can give a Norwegian gas profit

Norway could potentially benefit from the crisis if there are long-term disruptions in European imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar.

According to Rystad Energy, this may increase gas prices, and other large suppliers such as Russia and Norway will benefit from this. However, Norway does not have many additional volumes to offer to Europe, the company claims.

– Russia is definitely not the country in a hurry to see a solution to this lockdown, the head of gas and energy markets, Carlos Torres Díaz, of Rystad Energy said on Friday.

– Norway would normally get a boost as well, as Europe’s second largest gas supplier, but the pipeline system is already operating near full capacity, he said.

Affects the Danish Maersk

Among the ships waiting in line are container ships, tankers filled with crude, petroleum products and liquefied natural gas (LNG), bulk carriers and chemical tankers.

The price of oil fell to $ 60 earlier this week, but has now risen to $ 64 a barrel.

About 12 percent of world trade is transported through the Suez Canal, according to Danish shipping giant Mærsk.

The company operates one of the world’s largest container shipping companies, Mærsk Line, and has nine ships waiting in line. According to the company’s website, around 50 ships operated by Maersk or its partners are scheduled to pass through the Suez Canal in the coming weeks.