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CAIRO (AFP, BLOOMBERG) – A mega-ship blocking Egypt’s Suez Canal could be re-floated on Saturday (March 27), the Japanese owner of the vessel told local media, as the crisis forced companies to divert services from the vital transport route in Africa.
The MV Ever Given, which has more than four football fields, has been wedged diagonally along the canal since Tuesday, blocking the waterway in both directions.
At a press conference in Japan on Friday, the chairman of Shoei Kisen, the ship’s owner, told local media that there were no signs of damage to its engines and various instruments.
“The ship is not taking in water. There is no problem with its rudders and propellers. Once it floats again, it should be able to operate,” said Yukito Higaki in the western city of Imabari, according to Asahi Shimbun.
Task crews expected to remove the ship on Saturday night Tokyo time, he said.
“We continue to work to remove sediment from now on, with additional dredging tools,” Higaki said, according to Nikkei Asia.
The elite rescue team working with the Suez Canal Authority was able to float the ship from its “stern / stern” and released the helm at approximately 9pm local time Friday, according to Inchcape Shipping Services, a supplier of maritime services.
Another effort will be carried out using high tide, in the hope of fully refloating the ship.
The blockade has caused a major traffic jam for more than 200 ships at both ends of the 193 km long canal and significant delays in the delivery of oil and other products.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), the ship’s technical manager, said on Friday that an attempt to refloat the ship had failed.
“The focus is now on dredging to remove sand and mud from around the port side of the ship’s bow,” the firm said.
Smit Salvage, a Dutch firm that has worked on some of the most famous shipwrecks in recent years, confirmed that “two additional tugs” would arrive on Sunday to help, he added.
There were “no reports of contamination or damage to the load and initial investigations rule out any mechanical or motor failure as the cause of the grounding.” Crews had been seen working at night, using a large dredging machine under floodlights.
But the ship with a gross tonnage of 219,000 and a deadweight of 199,000 has yet to move, forcing global shipping giant Maersk and Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd to seek a rerouting around the southern tip of Africa.
‘Human error’?
“Shipping companies are faced with the specter of taking the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope to reach Europe or the east coast of North America,” said Lloyd’s List, a shipping news and data company. .
“The first container ship to do this is Evergreen’s Ever Greet … a sister ship to Ever Given,” he said, noting that the route may take up to an additional 12 days.
Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority said the mega ship veered off course and ran aground when winds reaching 40 knots triggered a sandstorm that affected visibility.
Lloyd’s List said the data indicated that 213 vessels were now stagnant at both ends of the canal, which links the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
The blockade was holding back an estimated $ 9.6 billion (S $ 12.9 billion) worth of cargo each day between Asia and Europe, he said.
“Rough estimates suggest that westbound traffic is worth about $ 5.1 billion a day, while eastbound traffic is worth $ 4.5 billion.”
‘The stakes are high’
The canal authority has said that between 15,000 and 20,000 cubic meters of sand will have to be removed to reach a depth of 12 to 16 m and refloat the ship.
If those efforts fail, salvage crews will seek to unload some of the Ever Given’s cargo and take advantage of the spring high tide that will begin Sunday night to move the ship.
Plamen Natzkoff, a VesselsValue expert, said teams would likely put even more resources into their efforts in the coming days to make the most of that opportunity.
“If they can’t dislodge it during that high tide, the next high tide won’t be there for a couple of weeks, and that becomes problematic,” he said.
“The stakes are high for it to take months.”
Turkey offered on Friday to send a tugboat to help Egypt free the Panama-flagged ship, as it pushed ahead with its attempt to repair ties with regional rivals.
The United States also said it was ready to send support, including a team of experts from the United States Navy.
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