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SINGAPORE: Japanese boat rental company Shoei Kisen Kaisha, owner of the giant container ship stuck in the Suez Canal, said it faces “extreme difficulties” in refloating it.
“In cooperation with local authorities and Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, a ship management company, we are trying to refloat (the ship), but we are facing extreme difficulty,” Shoei Kisen Kaisha said on Thursday (March 25) in a communicated on their website.
“We sincerely apologize for causing great concern to the ships in the Suez Canal and those planning to cross the canal.”
The beached container ship Ever Given, one of the world’s largest container ships, is seen after it ran aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal on March 25, 2021 (Photo: Reuters / Ahmed Fahmy).
Egyptian tugboats work to free Taiwan-owned MV Ever Given (Evergreen) in this photo released on March 25, 2021 (Photo: AFP / Suez Canal Authority / Brochure).
Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority said it is “temporarily suspending navigation” through one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes until the 400-meter-long Ever Given vessel is released.
The Egyptian authorities have deployed eight large vessels to drag the affected container ship out of the channel bed.
The vessel ran aground diagonally on the single-lane stretch of the South Canal Tuesday morning after losing the ability to drive amid high winds and a dust storm, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a release.
It is now blocking traffic in both directions through one of the world’s busiest shipping channels for goods, oil, grains and other products that link Asia and Europe.
Peter Berdowski, chief executive of Dutch company Boskalis, which is trying to free the ship, said it was too early to say how long the work would take.
“We cannot exclude that it could take weeks, depending on the situation,” Berdowski told the Dutch television program Nieuwsuur.
He said the bow and stern of the ship had been raised on both sides of the canal.
LEE: Tugboats work to free a giant container ship stranded in the Suez Canal
Workers are seen next to a container ship that was hit by a strong wind and ran aground in the Suez Canal, Egypt, on March 24, 2021. (Photo: Suez Canal Authority / Brochure via REUTERS)
“It’s like a huge beached whale. It’s a huge weight in the sand. We may have to work with a combination of weight reduction by removing containers, oil and water from the ship, tugboats and sand dredging.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), Ever Given’s technical manager, said the dredgers were working to clear the sand and mud around the ship to free it, while the tugs along with Ever Given winches are working to change it.
According to the Japanese shipowner, there were 25 crew members on board, all of Indian nationality. The ship was fully loaded with consumer goods destined for European markets in 20,000 standard shipping containers.
LEE: Owner of the beached Suez ship, insurers face millions in claims
Maritime services firm GAC issued a note to clients overnight saying that efforts to free the ship using tugs continued, but that wind conditions and the size of the ship “were hampering the operation.”
The ship tracking software shows five tugs circling Ever Given and three more heading towards it. However, the ship’s GPS signal shows only minor changes in its position during the last 24 hours.
A distributed image released by the Suez Canal Authority on March 25, 2021 shows Egyptian officials controlling the operation attempting to release Taiwanese property cargo MV Ever Given (Evergreen) into Egypt’s Suez Canal.
A closer view of the container ship Ever Given seen blocking the Suez Canal in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite image from the European Space Agency. (Photo: Reuters)
Several dozen ships, including other large container ships, oil and gas tankers, and grain-carrying bulk ships, have receded at both ends of the canal to create one of the worst shipping jams seen in years.
About 30 percent of the world’s shipping container volume transits the 193 km Suez Canal daily, and about 12 percent of total world trade in all goods.
Shipping experts say that if the blockade is not likely to clear within the next 24 to 48 hours, some shipping companies may be forced to redirect ships around the southern tip of Africa, which would add about a week to the travel.
READ: Egypt’s Suez Canal: A History of the Key Route
But the president of the Suez Canal Authority told the media that despite the blockade, some shipments were able to move south and that efforts to dislodge Ever Given would continue.
Consulting firm Wood Mackenzie said the biggest impact was on container shipping, but there were also a total of 16 oil tankers and loaded products that had to navigate through the canal and now delayed by the incident, amounting to 870,000 tons of crude oil and 670,000 tons of clean crude. petroleum products such as gasoline, gasoline and diesel.
