Diggers and dredgers struggle to free ship blocking Suez Canal

[webfact]

A view shows the stranded container ship Ever Given, one of the world's largest container ships, after it ran aground, in Suez Canal, Egypt March 28, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

 

By Yusri Mohamed and Aidan Lewis

 

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Suez Canal salvage teams intensified excavation and dredging on Sunday around a massive container ship blocking the busy waterway ahead of attempts to refloat it, with two sources saying work had been complicated by rock under the ship's bow.

 

Diggers were working to remove parts of the canal's bank and expand dredging close to the ship's bow to a depth of 18 metres (19.7 yards), the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a statement.

 

There was no mention of new attempts to release the ship with tugs, though canal officials and sources had said they were hoping to take advantage of high tides on Sunday and Monday to dislodge the vessel.

 

A specialist tug registered in the Netherlands arrived and would join efforts to refloat the ship on Sunday evening, the ship's technical manager Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) said.

 

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has ordered preparations for the possible removal of some of the ship's 18,300 containers, SCA Chairman Osama Rabie told Egypt's Extra News.

 

Any operation to lighten the ship's load would not start before Monday, an SCA source said, as salvage teams try to manoeuvre the ship free before high tides recede next week.

 

The 400-metre (430-yard) long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early on Tuesday, halting shipping traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

 

At least 369 vessels are waiting to transit the canal, Rabie said, including dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels.

 

Shippers affected by the blockage may be offered discounts, Rabie said, adding that he believed investigations would show the canal was not responsible for grounding the Ever GIven, one of the world's biggest container ships.

 

Rescue workers from the SCA and a team from Dutch firm Smit Salvage have been weighing how much tugging power they can use on the ship without risking damage, and whether some cargo will need to be removed by crane in order to re-float it.

 

Experts have warned that such a process could be complex and lengthy. Rabie said he hoped it would not be necessary, but that Egypt would take up offers of international assistance if it did switch to that strategy.

 

A ballast tank at the bow of the ship has been damaged, and the vessel will have to be inspected once it is freed, two people familiar with the salvage operation said.

 

Suction pumps have been deployed to expel water from the tank, SCA sources said, and one of the sources said divers had been working to repair the hole.

 

SOIL EXPERTS

Dredging has so far shifted at least 27,000 cubic metres of sand and mud from around the ship, the SCA said earlier on Sunday.

 

However, two SCA sources told Reuters that a mass of rock had been found at the bow of the ship, complicating salvage efforts. That appeared to be confirmed by the focus late on Sunday on digging to remove the lining of the canal around the ship's front.

 

Soil experts are on site to advise on recovery efforts and a further dredger was expected to arrive by March 30, BSM said.

 

From the dredging done so far it was still unclear whether the ship was stuck on soft sand, compact sand or clay, which will determine how easily it may shift free, said one official involved in the salvage operation.

 

A view shows Ever Given container ship in Suez Canal in this Maxar Technologies satellite image taken on March 28, 2021. Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS

 

Two new and powerful tugs expected to be in use by Monday could provide a boost. "We believe that is what you are going to need in terms of horse power ... to have a decent attempt, a decent chance of trying to float her," the official said.

 

The latest efforts come after officials said some progress had been made on Friday and Saturday.

 

"The rudder was not moving and it is now moving, the propeller is working now, there was no water underneath the bow, and now there is water under it, and yesterday there was a 4-metre deviation in the bow and the stern," Rabie told Egyptian state TV.

 

About 15% of world shipping traffic transits the Suez Canal, which is a key source of foreign currency revenue for Egypt. The current stoppage is costing the canal $14-15 million daily.

 

Shipping rates for oil product tankers nearly doubled after the ship became stranded, and the blockage has disrupted global supply chains, threatening costly delays for companies already dealing with COVID-19 restrictions.

 

If the blockage drags on, shippers may decide to reroute their cargoes around the Cape of Good Hope, adding about two weeks to journeys and extra fuel costs.

 

A note from A.P. Moeller Maersk seen by Reuters said it had so far redirected 15 vessels around the Cape after calculating that the journey would be equal to the current delay of sailing to Suez and queuing.

 

The SCA has said it can accelerate convoys through the canal once the Ever Given is freed.

 

(Reporting by Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia, Aidan Lewis, Omar Fahmy, Mahmoud Mourad and Momen Saeed Atallah in Cairo, Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Alex Richardson, Elaine Hardcastle, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-29

 

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[ExpatOilWorker]

If the Suez Canal was located in a different country, they would simply tie two long-tail boats pointing inwards to each end of the canal.
The ship would then float away on the bulge of water created at the center of the canal.

[MasterBaker]

it's called "ever given", what's wrong could've happen with it?

[mushroomdave]

Ever Given is a Taiwan flagged vessel....and so I would have to say it was not a good week for Taiwan nautically...Lol!! 

(watching the video looks like they were so so lucky it didn't go fully over)

Taiwanese fishing boat launch goes awry

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4162689

Edited March 28, 2021 by mushroomdave

[Tug]

First I heard they breached a ballast tank that’s not good hopefully they have room for divers to cofferdam the hole if it isent to big and they have rock that’s bad I’ll bet they start unloading it soon what an epic foul up!

[wombat]

Imagine that...a ballast tank with a hole in it.

[nauseus]

1 hour ago, mushroomdave said:

Ever Given is a Taiwan flagged vessel....and so I would have to say it was not a good week for Taiwan nautically...Lol!! 

(watching the video looks like they were so so lucky it didn't go fully over)

Taiwanese fishing boat launch goes awry

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4162689

 

Panamanian flag.

[Phuketshrew]

[thaibeachlovers]

According to news ( I think BBC, but not sure ) the Egyptian president has ordered the cargo removed. I'd have thought that should have started days ago, but probably cost large, though IMO not as large as the compensation will be if it's not sorted soon.

 

Someone probably thought it would be a good idea to build a ship that could take as many containers as 2 or 3 smaller ships, but they might be sweating now. Hopefully the canal will be banned to such large ships in future.

[SunnyinBangrak]

You would think a decent Seal explosives team could have sent the ship up to Mars if they had the wink in the early days. Would have saved a whole lot of money and time. And how am I reading they are rushing to free it so live animals aboard do not perish? Is that a joke? Poor critters.

[NanLaew]

My understanding is these vessels were only recently permitted to use the Suez canal. There's also some science about the effects of a fast-moving, wide beamed vessel in a confined channel. The wind has already been mentioned as a contributing factor and there's no denying that a wall of sea containers is a pretty efficient 'sail' to try and steer against. There's an interesting video of the vessel's actual track from entering the canal to the grounding and she was yoyo-ing all over the shop almost from the start of the transit.

 

A read that a heavy lift crane has also been mobilized to handle the container removal which will also need barges for their temporary storage since dropping them on the bank is maybe not an option. Despite the President (who doesn't have any qualifications in marine engineering or fluid dynamics) calling for the vessel to be offloaded ASAP, I still think the dredging, mud jetting, excavation and bigger tugs will succeed if they can get this all coordinated before the tides fall again.

 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

A ballast tank at the bow of the ship has been damaged, and the vessel will have to be inspected once it is freed, two people familiar with the salvage operation said.

 

It wasn't me!

 

[NanLaew]

15 minutes ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

And how am I reading they are rushing to free it so live animals aboard do not perish? Is that a joke? Poor critters.

 

I heard it was bananas. Poor perishers.

[mushroomdave]

1 hour ago, nauseus said:

 

Panamanian flag.

My bad, flag may be wrong but is operated by Taiwan's Evergreen Marine Corp.  Again, a bad week for them.

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4160010

Edited March 29, 2021 by mushroomdave

[Rimmer]

Troll post and a couple of replies removed

[webfact]

Stranded Suez Canal ship re-floated: Inchcape

 

Stranded ship Ever Given, one of the world's largest container ships, is seen after it ran aground, in Suez Canal, Egypt March 28, 2021. Suez Canal Authority/Handout via REUTERS

 

CAIRO (Reuters) - The stranded container ship blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week was re-floated on Monday and is currently being secured, Inchcape Shipping Services said, raising expectations the vital waterway will soon be reopened.

 

The ship was successfully re-floated at 4.30 am local time and was being secured at the moment, Inchcape, a global provider of marine services said on Twitter.

 

Ship-tracking service VesselFinder has changed the ship's status to under way on its website.

 

The 400-metre (430-yard) long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early on Tuesday, halting shipping traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

 

At least 369 vessels were waiting to transit the canal, including dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels, SCA Chairman Osama Rabie told Egypt's Extra News on Sunday.

 

Egypt's Leth Agencies tweeted the ship had been partially refloated, pending official confirmation from the Suez Canal Authority.

 

The Suez Canal Authority had earlier said in a statement that tugging operations to free the ship had resumed. The Suez Canal salvage teams intensified excavation and dredging on Sunday and were hoping a high tide would help them dislodge it.

 

Crude oil prices fell after news the ship had been re-floated, with Brent crude down by $1 per barrel to $63.67.

 

The ship's technical manager Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

 

(Reporting by Akshay Lodaya, Yusri Mohamed; Writing by Nadine Awadalla, Florence Tan and Himani Sarkar; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-29

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[puck2]

It's time that THAIVISA reports the latest news about the ship closing the Suez chanel.

 

I have  read in the German magazine SPON the giant container ship has  been successfully moved now !

[Kwasaki]

France 24 news bow is free and the vessel is partially refloated the pointed bit they reckon may be another couple of hours or so.

[bendejo]

3 hours ago, mushroomdave said:

My bad, flag may be wrong but is operated by Taiwan's Evergreen Marine Corp.  Again, a bad week for them.

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4160010

I would guess the company is under the same corporate umbrella as Eva Airlines.

 

 

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, puck2 said:

It's time that THAIVISA reports the latest news about the ship closing the Suez chanel.

 

I have  read in the German magazine SPON the giant container ship has  been successfully moved now !

Kindly see thep ost above yours, already reported.

[Kwasaki]

It's afloat but owners awaiting to officially announce and it's put to one side and smaller ships are passing. 

Report to LBC UK via Lloyd's insurer agent. 

Edited March 29, 2021 by Kwasaki

[nauseus]

Several news sources confirm that the ship is free-floating and presently being "secured".

 

This Guardian piece includes some confirmatory VDO:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/29/suez-canal-attempt-re-float-ever-given-delay-salvage-tugboats

 

Good job done. I must admit was a bit surprised but they do seem to have made good use of the morning spring tide. Bravo.

[nauseus]

1 hour ago, nauseus said:

Several news sources confirm that the ship is free-floating and presently being "secured".

 

This Guardian piece includes some confirmatory VDO:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/29/suez-canal-attempt-re-float-ever-given-delay-salvage-tugboats

 

Good job done. I must admit was a bit surprised but they do seem to have made good use of the morning spring tide. Bravo.

 

 

Well, to add, it looks like some media sources now say that the ship is "partially" afloat, which makes more sense looking at the VDO's. The bow still seems to be slightly high and still close to the canal bank. But the stern is well away from where it was before, so maybe the net high (spring) tide will let them pull the bow into deep water?  

[oznomad]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

that tugging operations to free the ship had resumed

Not sure how much a bunch of Egyptians sitting around doing that would have helped.

[thaibeachlovers]

8 hours ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

You would think a decent Seal explosives team could have sent the ship up to Mars if they had the wink in the early days. Would have saved a whole lot of money and time. And how am I reading they are rushing to free it so live animals aboard do not perish? Is that a joke? Poor critters.

I doubt there are live animals on that ship, but there are a few live animal ships that are waiting to get through.

[dabhand]

Now fully free.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/29/suez-canal-attempt-re-float-ever-given-delay-salvage-tugboats

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9413209/Ever-Given-FREED-Suez-Canal-ditch-attempt-using-supermoon-king-tide.html

Edited March 29, 2021 by dabhand

[whaleboneman]

Free and sailing at 6 knots in Great Bitter Lake.

[NanLaew]

17 hours ago, oznomad said:

23 hours ago, webfact said:

that tugging operations to free the ship had resumed

Not sure how much a bunch of Egyptians sitting around doing that would have helped.

 

And we're taught to believe these blighters built the pyramids?

 

By hand?