A giant the container ship remained stranded on the Suez Canal in Egypt for the fifth day of Saturday, as authorities prepared to make further attempts to release the ship and reopen a crucial east-west waterway for global shipping.
The owners of Ever Date say that a gust of wind pushed it and its large load of over 20,000 transport containers on the side of the canal on Tuesday, nestling it between the sandy banks of the canal. The massive ship got stuck in a single-lane portion of the canal, a few miles from its southern entrance.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the technical manager of Ever given, said on Friday that it had failed a release attempt.
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Plans were underway to pump water from the ship’s interiors and two more tugs should arrive by Sunday to join others already trying to move the massive ship, he said.
An official from the Suez Canal Authority said he intends to make at least two attempts on Saturday to release the ship when the wave subsides.
A maritime traffic jam increased to about 280 ships on Saturday off the Suez Canal, according to canal service provider Leth Agencies. Some ships began to change course and dozens of ships were still on their way to the waterway, according to data firm Refinitiv.
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Shoei Kisen President Yukito Higaki told a news conference at the company’s headquarters in Imabari, western Japan, that 10 tugs had been deployed and workers were dragging the shores and the seabed near the ship’s bow. he pulls it back on the waterline as the big wave begins to come out.
Shoei Kisen said in a statement on Saturday that the company is considering removing the containers to lighten the ship if refloating efforts fail, but this would be a difficult operation.
The White House said it had offered to help Egypt reopen the canal. “We have equipment and capabilities that most countries don’t have and we see what we can do and what help we can be,” President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday.
Prolonged closure of the crucial waterway would cause delays in the global transport chain. About 19,000 ships passed through the canal last year, according to official figures. About 10% of world trade flows through the canal, which is especially important for oil transportation. The closure could affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Middle East.
It was not clear how long the blockade would last. Even after the reopening of the Asian plant to European consumers, the waiting containers are likely to arrive in congested ports, forcing them to face additional delays before unloading.
Anticipating long delays, the owners of the stranded ship diverted a sister ship, Ever Greet, on a course around Africa, according to satellite data.
And others are deviated. The liquefied natural gas carrier Pan Americas has changed course in the middle of the Atlantic, now aiming south to bypass the southern tip of Africa, according to satellite data from MarineTraffic.com.
The Financial Times reported on Friday that a number of shipping groups had contacted the US Navy’s fifth fleet for maritime security concerns for ships that chose to sail south around Africa, which would put them in the waters of on the east coast of the continent, which have a long history of piracy.
“Africa is at risk of piracy, especially in East Africa,” said Zhao Qing-feng of the Shanghai Shipowners’ Association in Shanghai, saying owners may need to hire additional security forces to board their ships before to make the journey extended.
It is just another factor that could cause a serious slowdown and a potential rise in prices for goods moving to Europe and the US from Asia and another headache for a global supply chain system already strained by the coronavirus pandemic.
Egyptian authorities have banned media access to the site. The canal authority said that its chief, Lieutenant General Osama Rabei, will hold a press conference in the city of Suez on Saturday, a few kilometers from the ship’s site.