ISMAILIA, Egypt (AP) – Dredges, tugs and even a backhoe failed to free a giant cargo ship trapped in Egypt’s Suez Canal on Thursday as the number of piled ships unable to cross the vital waterway rose to 150 and global mounted transport losses.
Ever Given, the size of a skyscraper, carrying cargo between Asia and Europe, ran aground on Tuesday in the narrow man-made canal that divides mainland Africa from the Sinai Peninsula. Even with the help of the high tide, the authorities have failed to push the Panamanian flag container aside and are looking for new ideas to free it.
In a sign of the turmoil the blockade caused, the Japanese owner of the ship even offered a written apology.
“We are determined to continue working hard to resolve this situation as soon as possible,” said Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd .. “We would like to apologize to all parties affected by this incident, including the ships traveling and planning to travel through the Suez Canal. . ”
As efforts to free him resumed in broad daylight on Thursday, an Egyptian canal official said workers were hoping to avoid unloading containers from the ship as it would take days to do so and extend the closure. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak to journalists.
So far, the dredgers have tried to clean up the sludge around the huge ship. The tugs pushed the ship alongside it, trying to gain momentum. From the coast, at least one backhoe dug into the sandy banks of the channel, suggesting that the bow of the ship had hit it. However, satellite photos taken on Thursday by Planet Labs Inc. and analyzed by The Associated Press showed that the vessel is still stuck in the same location.
Lt. Gen. Osama Rabei, head of the channel’s authority, said navigation on the waterway would remain disrupted until Ever Given is reflected. A team from Boskalis, a Dutch rescue company, arrived on the channel on Thursday, although one of its top employees warned that the removal of the ship could take “days to weeks”.
A team from the Boskalis SMIT subsidiary “spent the day doing inspections and calculations to assess the condition of the ship and a plan on how to re-reflect the ship,” spokesman Martijn Schuttevaer told AP. He did not offer a deadline.
The Suez Canal Authority said one idea the team discussed was to scrape the bottom of the canal around the ship.
Boskalis President Peter Berdowski on Wednesday described the ship as “a very heavy whale on the beach”.
“The ship, with the weight it has now, cannot really be pulled out. You can forget, ”he told the Dutch news program“ Nieuwsuur ”.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the company that manages Ever Given, said its 25-member crew is safe and responsible. Shoei Kisen Kaisha said that the entire crew came from India.
The ship had two pilots from Egypt’s channel authority on board to guide it when the stranding happened around 7:45 am on Tuesday, said Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement.
Channel service provider Leth Agencies said that at least 150 ships are awaiting the release of Ever Given, including ships near Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea, Port Suez on the Red Sea and those already trapped in the Great Bitter Lake channel system of the Egypt.
The cargo ships already behind Ever Given on the channel will be rolled back south to Port Suez to clear the channel, Leth Agencies said. The authorities hope to do the same with Always Given when they can release it.
Evergreen Marine Corp., a large Taiwan-based shipping company that operates the ship, said Ever Given was dominated by strong winds when entering the channel, something Egyptian officials have also said previously. Strong winds and a sandstorm hit the area on Tuesday, with gusting winds of 50 km / h (30 mph).
An initial report suggested that the ship suffered a power blackout prior to the incident, something Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement denied.
“Initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as the cause of the stranding,” said the company.
In Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters that the Suez Canal is part of a crucial international sea route and that the Japanese government was collecting information and working with local authorities.
The closure could affect oil and gas shipments from the Middle East to Europe, which depend on the channel to avoid sailing across Africa. The price of Brent’s international benchmark oil stood at more than $ 63 a barrel on Thursday.
Overall, the famous navigation newspaper Lloyd’s List estimates that each day that the Suez Canal is closed, it disturbs more than $ 9 billion worth of goods that should have been crossing the river. A quarter of all daily traffic on the Suez Canal comes from container ships like Ever Given, the newspaper said.
“Blocking something like the Suez Canal really sets in motion a series of dominoes that knock each other down,” said Lars Jensen, chief executive of Denmark-based SeaIntelligence Consulting. “The effect will not only be simple and immediate, with the load delayed in the coming weeks, but it will have repercussions on the supply chain several months later.”
Ever Given, built in 2018 with a length of almost 400 meters (a quarter mile) and a width of 59 meters (193 feet), is among the largest cargo ships in the world. It can transport around 20,000 containers at a time. He had already been to ports in China before heading to Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal provides a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo. It also remains one of Egypt’s biggest foreign currency earners. In 2015, the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi completed a major expansion of the canal, allowing it to accommodate the largest ships in the world. However, Ever Given ran aground south of this new part of the channel.
Stranded Tuesday is just the last to affect sailors in the midst of the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands were arrested on board ships due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, demand for ships has increased, increasing pressure on tired sailors.
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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press editors Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Isabel DeBre in Dubai and Mike Corder in The Hague, The Netherlands contributed.