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CAIRO: A giant container ship got stuck during a sandstorm on Tuesday (March 23) in Egypt’s Suez Canal, causing a freighter jam on one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
This is what we know so far.
WHAT HAPPENED?
The 400-meter-long Ever Given MV, almost whenever the Empire State Building is tall, drifts off course as a gale-force dust storm hits the Sinai desert in Egypt and much of the Middle East.
The 59-meter-wide Panamanian-flagged, Taiwan-led ship of the so-called “mega-ships” class gets stuck near the southern end of the canal and diagonally blocks the man-made waterway connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.
The operator of Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corp ship says the ship, which was heading from Yantian, China to the Dutch port of Rotterdam, “ran aground after an alleged gust of wind hit it.”
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) says the accident was “primarily due to lack of visibility due to weather conditions when winds reached 40 knots, affecting control” of the ship.
All 25 crew members are uninjured, the hull and cargo are undamaged and there are no oil leaks, say the ship’s managers, Singapore-based Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement.
Egyptian tugs, dredgers and excavators go to work to try to free the huge ship.
READ: ‘Extreme difficulty’ release ship stuck in Suez Canal, says Japanese ship owner
READ: The blockade of the Suez Canal may disrupt supply to the region: Ong Ye Kung
WHAT IS THE IMPACT?
The mega ship blocks the maritime artery through which more than 10 percent of world maritime trade passes.
The Suez Canal, opened in 1869 and expanded since then, is a crucial shortcut between Asia and Europe, preventing ships from having to navigate the southern tip of Africa.
READ: Egypt’s Suez Canal: A History of the Key Route
As a result of the accident, dozens of vessels are forced to wait in Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake midway along the canal, in the Mediterranean and in the Red Sea, says canal service provider Leth Agencies.
Old sections of the canal are reopened in an effort to alleviate congestion, but this does not solve the fundamental problem because there is only one lane at the southern end where the ship is stuck.
The blockade hits global oil markets as traders anticipate delays in deliveries. Crude futures were up 6 percent on Wednesday.
“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Ranjith Raja, Middle East oil and shipping researcher at international financial data firm Refinitiv.
“The congestion … is likely to take several days or weeks to clear up as it will have a ripple effect on other convoys.”
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
The Suez Canal Authority announced Thursday that it is “temporarily suspending navigation” along the entire canal.
Egyptian authorities say they have deployed eight additional vessels to release the affected ship.
Broker Braemar previously warned that if the tugs cannot move the giant ship, some of its cargo may have to be removed by a crane barge to refloat it.
“This can take days, maybe weeks,” he says.
The ship’s owners, Japanese boat rental company Shoei Kisen Kaisha, said on Thursday they were facing “extreme difficulties” in refloating it.
Toshiaki Fujiwara, a company official, told AFP that “we still don’t know how long it will take.”
“We have not heard of any particular progress. They are now trying to excavate land under the bow of the ship. Tug operations will resume when the tide rises.”
LEE: Owner of the beached Suez ship, insurers face millions in claims
He says the ship had an insurance policy, but the details or costs involved at this stage are unknown to the company.
“It’s just the beginning,” says Fujiwara.
