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CAIRO: An attempt to re-float the stranded mega-ship blocking the Suez Canal has failed, the ship’s technical manager, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) said on Friday.
The firm said the Dutch rescue team had confirmed that two additional tugs would arrive on March 28 to help refloat the ship.
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READ: Megaship blocks the Suez Canal: what we know so far
On Friday, an official from Shoei Kisen Kaisha, the Japanese company that owns Ever Given, said crews were working to refloat the ship.
Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority has said that 15,000 to 20,000 cubic meters of sand will have to be removed to reach a depth of 12 to 16 m and refloat the ship.
READ: The blockade of the Suez Canal may disrupt supply to the region: Ong Ye Kung
However, salvage experts had warned Thursday that the shutdown could last days or even weeks.
The company and its insurers could face claims totaling millions of dollars from the Suez Canal Authority for lost revenue and other vessels whose passage has been disrupted.
The lockdown could cost world trade between $ 6 billion and $ 10 billion a week, a study by German insurer Allianz showed on Friday.
Rating agency Moody’s expects European auto parts and manufacturing suppliers to be hit the hardest because they operate “just-in-time” supply chains.
“Even if the situation is resolved within the next 48 hours, port congestion and further delays in an already restricted supply chain are unavoidable,” it said in a statement.
IMPACT ON OIL
About two dozen ships could be seen from the shores of Port Said on Friday morning, according to a Reuters witness.
Oil prices rose more than 3 percent on Friday as more than 30 tankers have been waiting on both sides of the canal since Tuesday, Refinitiv shipping data showed.
However, the delays come at a time of low seasonal demand for crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), which will likely mitigate the impact on prices, analysts said.
Data intelligence firm Kpler said 10 tankers were waiting to enter the canal. About 4 million barrels of CPC blend, mostly Kazakh, and some Russian Urals were waiting along with tankers carrying Libyan, Azeri and some North Sea crude oil for the Asian refinery, traders said.
READ: Egypt’s Suez Canal: A History of the Key Route
Egypt’s SUMED pipeline operator was quick to reach out to crude traders to see if they wanted to reserve space in the system, but so far, traders prefer to wait to avoid high additional costs.
Analysts expect a greater impact on the prices of smaller tankers that transport petroleum products, such as naphtha and fuel oil, for export from Europe to Asia, if the channel remains closed for weeks.
“About 20% of Asia’s naphtha is supplied by the Mediterranean and the Black Sea through the Suez Canal,” said Sri Paravaikkarasu, Asia oil director at FGE, adding that the rerouting of ships around from the Cape of Good Hope could add up to two weeks and additional fuel costs for the trip.
The blockade is affecting the already weak Asian market for diesel or diesel. More than 60 percent of Asian exports to the west flowed through the drowned Canal in 2020, according to FGE.
“Aframax and Suezmax rates in the Mediterranean have also reacted first as the market begins to price fewer vessels available in the region,” said ship broker Braemar ACM Shipbroking.
At least four Long-Range 2 tankers that could have headed toward Suez from the Atlantic basin are now likely assessing a passage around the Cape of Good Hope, Braemar ACM said. Each LR-2 tanker can carry around 75,000 tons of oil.
The cost of shipping clean products, such as gasoline and diesel, from the Russian Black Sea port of Tuapse to southern France rose 73% in the past three days to $ 2.58 a barrel on March 25, data shows. from Refinitiv Eikon.
The shipping index benchmark for LR2 ships from the Middle East to Japan, known as TC1, has risen by a third since last week to 137.5 global scale points, said Anoop Jayaraj, clean tanker broker at Fearnleys. Singapore. Worldscale is an industry tool used to calculate freight rates.
On the crude side, traders have had to pay 10 to 20 percent more for replacement tankers, but market freight rates have yet to increase as charterers are not ready to commit to levels. higher should the container be released this weekend, ship brokers said.
