Suez Canal news live: Ever Given rescue effort restarted

Oil prices fell on Thursday after rising on Wednesday due to concerns about a huge container ship that ran aground in the Suez Canal, blocking a vital route for the transport of crude. write Ben chapman.

The MV Ever Given, a Panamanian-flagged vessel operated by the Taiwanese company Evergreen and owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd of Japan, was trapped sideways along the canal on Tuesday due to high winds.

What could the disruption mean for the price of oil?

This infographic, created to The independent from the statistics agency Statista, shows possible commercial bottlenecks around the world.

The Suez Canal has great political importance in addition to its key role in local and global economies, an expert told The Independent.

“Historically it has been an enormously important fulcrum of Egyptian and world politics” under its various controllers, said Dr. Laleh Khalili, professor of international politics at Queen Mary, University of London.

She said: “From its inception as a colonial project facilitating and accelerating British and French imperial control in Asia and Africa, until its nationalization in 1956 which led to the tripartite attack on Egypt by Britain, France and Israel, the canal It has not only been important from an economic point of view but also a political one.

“The opening of the Suez Canal shortened the route between Asia and Europe in a matter of several weeks.”

The canal has even spurred technological change, Dr. Khalili said, such as the shift from sail to steam, “since a sailboat cannot be so easily steered through the canal when crosswinds are blowing.”

ed: “In the two periods in which the canal was closed due to the war, eight months after the 1956 war and eight years after the 1967 war, the size of the ships increased enormously to take advantage of the economies of scale around the Cape of Good Hope on the Asia-Europe route. “

Its historical significance aside, today’s politicians have also capitalized on the canal.

Dr. Khalili said: “After General Sisi came to power in a violent coup in 2013, he really needed a national project that was symbolically and economically important.

“The expansion of the canal – the creation of a parallel canal, or a two-way system, in the middle third of the canal – in 2015 and 2016 provided such an occasion.

“The added bonus was that reported Saudi investments in the expansion project more closely linked the counterrevolutionary regimes in the two countries.”

Today, Dr. Khalili said, about 50 ships cross the canal in both directions every day. Because crossing fees are high, they are often managed by some of the largest shipping companies in the world.

The plight of the Always given has given Twitter users a chance to show off their comedic muscles.

Jokes about video games and memes abounded, along with other non-printable material.

The owner of the MV Always given, the container ship blocking the Suez Canal, has apologized for the delays caused by its grounding on Tuesday, write Rory sullivan.

The 224,000-ton, 400-meter long vessel was heading from China to Rotterdam when it got stuck in the canal. Although it has now been partially re-floated, work is underway to remedy the situation.

As of Thursday morning, 150 ships were reported to be queuing to access the 120-mile-long canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

They are said to contain around 10 million barrels of oil and gasoline, which could have an impact on world oil prices.

Here you can see the point where Ever Given has stuck.

It’s at a point where the canal is one-way; the second parallel channel, inaugurated in 2015, is a little to the north.

Recently released images of the Suez Canal show the scale of the rescue operation for the Always given.

The grounding of the Golden Ever Given-class container ship in the Suez Canal, causing the vessel to veer sideways and block north and southbound freight traffic, has suddenly drawn international attention to the famous waterway that connects the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, write Joe sommerlad.

The 120-mile man-made passage was originally built by the Suez Canal Company between 1859 and 1869, but the origins of the idea date back to Ancient Egypt, the goal was the same as for the Victorians: to open up global trade. between east and west.

Pharaoh Senusret III is believed to have built a forerunner connecting the Red Sea to the Nile River as early as 1850 BC. C., while the later Pharaoh Necao II (610-595 a. C.) had similar ambitions that were not fulfilled until the Persian conqueror Darío (522 a. C.) -486 a. C.) completed it and proclaimed: “When the canal was dug as I ordered, the ships left Egypt through this canal to Persia, just as I intended.”

If rescuers can carry the Ever Given along the shore of the Suez Canal, it is possible that the flow of ships along it could resume.

However, if they can’t and the current delays are extended for a few more days, it could have “massive implications” for world trade, one expert warned.

“Typically, buyers plan for at least two to five days of security reserve with inbound shipping due to delays that can occur at origin or during the customs clearance process,” Glenn Koepke of the company told NBC News. of logistics software FourKites.

He added: “If they can clear the canal or pull the boat to the side to allow traffic to flow, then there should be minimal impact to consumers.

“If the ship remains stuck for a week or more, this could have massive implications.”

Another expert told the broadcaster that the delays could affect “basically everything you see in stores.”

The Suez Canal Authority temporarily suspended traffic as eight tugs work to free a giant container ship stranded on the southern stretch of the canal for two days, it said Thursday.

Thirteen ships had sailed south along the canal on Wednesday and were waiting in lakes along the route until the Ever Given container ship is released, the authority said in a statement.