Meanwhile, the backlog of ships waiting to be transported from Egypt’s important waterways has risen to 326, according to canal service provider Lathe Agencies.
Syria’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said the blockade of the Suez Canal “disrupted oil supplies to Syria and delayed the arrival of oil and oil tankers carrying oil into Syria,” according to state-run Sanaa News.
Amid fears over fuel supply, Middle Eastern nations have been forced to ration rations of petroleum derivatives, mainly diesel and benzene, to ensure their vital availability for a longer period of time, Sandha said on Saturday.
The army quoted the ministry as saying that the move was aimed at ensuring a steady supply of basic services to the Syrian people, such as bakeries, hospitals, water stations, communications centers and other important institutions.
It added that “Syria will continue to supply ration oil through the Suez Canal until it returns to normal navigation activities, which may take an unknown amount of time.”
A huge ship as long as the Empire State Building, as far as the Empire State Building is concerned, ran after it after it was caught in a 40-knot wind and sandstorm in an Egyptian canal on Tuesday. Officers are also investigating possible human or technical errors.
This barrier, one of the busiest and most important waterways in the world, could have a major impact on an already expanding global supply chain, increasing the disruption with each passing day.
The Dutch company SMIT, which has worked on a number of high-profile operations in the past. An expert rescue team from Salvage and Nippon Selvage of Japan has been appointed, which was helped by the Suez Canal Authority to re-float the ship, charter company Evergreen Marine said in a statement.
Speaking at a news conference on Saturday, SCA President Osama Rabbi gave details of the rescue operation, which he described as “technically difficult” and “involving many factors”.
“We are facing a difficult and complex situation, we are working in a rocky ground, the tide is very very high, in addition to the huge size of the ship and the number of containers, which makes it difficult,” he said. “We can’t set a specific date for the ship to stay afloat, based on the ship’s response.”
About 9,000 tons of ballast water has been unloaded from the vessel, Rebe said, adding that dredging occurred during low tide while 14 tons were working during high tide. On Friday night, rescue teams were able to temporarily restart the radar and propellers, he said.
A spokesman for SMIT Salvage’s sister company Boscalis told CNN that two extra heavy tugboats would arrive “probably early early evening” on Sunday.
The pair has a combined pull capacity of about 400 tons, spokesman Martijn Schuttever said. Once the tugboats arrive it takes a few hours to reach Ever Given, he said.
The chief executive of Boscalis said on Friday that he hoped the extra pulling power of the two tugs – combined with dredging, a tidal tide of 40 to 50 centimeters, and relatively free “lever power” of the ship’s stern – would be enough to ship a container ship free.
According to Bosklis, the crane that could be used to remove the container from the ship’s bow, even if the plan fails, has not yet arrived.
On Saturday, the rabbi described the scenario – which would ease the ship’s load – as a time-consuming and loving process in which he did not have to “hopefully” resort.
Rabi added that the reasons behind the accident are unclear. “There are many factors or causes, fast winds and sandstorms can be the cause, but not the main cause – it could be a technical error or a human error,” he said. “Further investigation will be conducted.”
Meanwhile, billions of dollars worth of important cargo and sensitive products are backlogged on hundreds of ships whose route is blocked. Dozens of them are taking livestock.
Gabriel Pan, EU director of the NGO Animals International, warned that thousands of animals – mostly Romanians – would be transported on ships if the situation was not resolved within a few days.
CNN’s Magdie opposite Cairo and Mohammed Tawfiq from Baghdad, while Laura Smith-Spark from London. CNN’s Mostafa Salem and Mick Craver contributed to the report.
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