Traffic in Suez Canal resumes after stranded ship refloated

[webfact]

Ship Ever Given, one of the world's largest container ships, is seen after it was fully floated in Suez Canal, Egypt March 29, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

 

By Yusri Mohamed, Nadine Awadalla and Aidan Lewis

 

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Shipping was on the move again late on Monday in Egypt's Suez Canal after tugs refloated a giant container ship which had been blocking the channel for almost a week, causing a huge build-up of vessels around the waterway.

 

With the 400-metre-long (430-yard) Ever Given dislodged, 113 ships were expected to transit the canal in both directions by early Tuesday morning, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chairman Osama Rabie told reporters.

 

He said a backlog of 422 ships could be cleared in 3 -1/2 days.

 

The Ever Given had become jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, in high winds early on March 23.

 

Evergreen Line, which is leasing the Ever Given, said the ship would be inspected for seaworthiness in the Great Bitter Lake, which separates two sections of the canal.

 

"The ship was ready for limited navigation after an initial inspection and not a single container was damaged, but a second investigation will be more precise and if it was affected it will show," Rabie said.

 

At dawn on Monday, rescue workers from the SCA working with a team from Dutch firm Smit Salvage partially refloated the ship and straightened it in the canal. After several hours it shifted briefly back across the canal before being manoeuvred free by tugs as the tide changed, a canal source said.

 

"The time pressure to complete this operation was evident and unprecedented," said Peter Berdowski, CEO of Smit Salvage owner Boskalis, after the Ever Given was refloated.

 

The company said approximately 30,000 cubic metres of sand had been dredged to refloat the 224,000-tonne container ship and a total of 11 tugs and two powerful sea tugs were used to pull the ship free.

 

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), the technical managers of the container ship, said there were no reports of pollution or cargo damage.

 

The giant container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week was fully floated on Monday, and traffic in the waterway would resume, the canal authority said in a statement.

 

QUEUE

Vessels waiting to transit the canal include dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels, Nile TV reported.

 

Rabie said that within four days, traffic would return to normal. "We'll work day and night to end the backlog."

 

Vessels similar in size to the Ever Given, which is one of the world's largest container ships, could pass through the canal safely, he added, and the SCA would not change its policy on admitting such ships.

 

Shipping group Maersk said the knock-on disruptions to global shipping could take weeks or months to unravel.

 

Owners and charterers of delayed ships face at least $24 million in expenses they will be unable to recoup as their insurance policies do not cover them and cargo owners could also face uninsured losses, industry sources said.

 

Graphic - Ever Given contained vessel refloated, but massive ship jam remains at Suez Canal:

 

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who had not publicly commented on the blockage, said Egypt had ended the crisis and assured resumption of trade through the canal.

 

Oil prices fell 1 percent after the ship was refloated while shares of Taiwan-listed Evergreen Marine Corp rose.

 

About 15% of world shipping traffic transits the Suez Canal, which is an important source of foreign currency revenue for Egypt. The stoppage was costing the canal up to $15 million a day.

 

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.

 

Maersk was among shippers rerouting cargoes around the Cape of Good Hope, adding up to two weeks to journeys and extra fuel costs.

 

(Reporting by Yusri Mohamed, Nadine Awadalla and Aidan Lewis; Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy, Momen Saeed Atallah and Mahmoud Mourad in Cairo, Florence Tan in Singapore, Anthony Deutsch and Bart Meijer in Amsterdam and Akshay Lodaya; Writing by Lincoln Feast, Kirsten Donovan and Catherine Evans; Editing by Richard Pullin, Timothy Heritage, William Maclean, Catherine Evans and Gareth Jones)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-30

 

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[RichardColeman]

6 minutes ago, webfact said:

Shipping rates for oil product tankers nearly doubled after the ship became stranded,

You'd think with all economies on shut down and nobody going anywhere there'd be a years worth of oil in every country by now.

[Chomper Higgot]

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

You'd think with all economies on shut down and nobody going anywhere there'd be a years worth of oil in every country by now.

It costs money to store oil and perhaps with the exception of Saudi Arabia no nation has oil storage capacity beyond a few days days capacity.

 

Most ‘national’ oil storage is held by the private business refineries and they’re not into storing oil for free.

[JoePai]

37 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

It costs money to store oil and perhaps with the exception of Saudi Arabia no nation has oil storage capacity beyond a few days days capacity.

 

Most ‘national’ oil storage is held by the private business refineries and they’re not into storing oil for free.

Usually between 60 and 90 days depending on the country

[Chomper Higgot]

Just now, JoePai said:

Usually between 60 and 90 days depending on the country

And that is measured by daily usage.

 

If the usage goes down nobody wants to ah for over storing capacity.

[fangless]

43 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Most ‘national’ oil storage is held by the private business refineries and they’re not into storing oil for free.

The US had the following;

On August 17, 2005, the SPR reached its goal of 700 million barrels (110,000,000 m3), or about 96% of its now-increased 727 million barrels (115,600,000 m3) capacity. Approximately 60% of the crude oil in the reserve is the less desirable sour (high sulfur content) variety. The oil delivered to the reserve is "royalty-in-kind" oil—royalties owed to the U.S. government by operators who acquire leases on the federally owned Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. These royalties were previously collected as cash, but in 1998 the government began testing the effectiveness of collecting royalties "in kind"—or in other words, acquiring the crude oil itself. This mechanism was adopted when refilling the SPR began, and once filling is completed, revenues from the sale of future royalties will be paid into the federal treasury.

Edited March 30, 2021 by fangless

[Tug]

Well there’s a bit of good news!

[Mr Derek]

What a pity. I was hoping the thing would keel over and tip all the containers into that artificial conduit, blocking it for months.
How much of the junk on that ship does the world really need?

[Eric Loh]

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Well there’s a bit of good news!

Those Tug-boats did it. ????

[KhunBENQ]

2 hours ago, Tug said:

Well there’s a bit of good news!

And best wishes for the sheep ????

Oil does not starve.

Edited March 30, 2021 by KhunBENQ

[Burma Bill]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

had been blocking the channel for almost a week,

 

 

The 20 tonne narrowboat caused disruption to duck and geese travel lanes (Picture: SWNS)

 

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2021/03/29/barge-wedged-in-uk-canal-goes-viral-after-causing-0-a-day-trade-disruption-14324003/?ito=cbshare

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/

[unblocktheplanet]

All this fuss about 'losing' profit. Nah, all they did was delay delivery. So what? No effect at all...

[gargamon]

Just think, if it wasn't for global warming, the melting icecaps and the resulting rise in sea levels, they never would have gotten it free.

[Tug]

15 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

Those Tug-boats did it. ????

Most likely the dredging did the most good anyway I’m glad it’s free and no one died 

[Stargeezr]

Glad that this event is over, what will happen in the future, 2 channels, for one way direction of 

travel?  Just a few hundred billion dollars to develop it.  

Geezer

[khunpeer]

10 hours ago, Tug said:

Most likely the dredging did the most good anyway I’m glad it’s free and no one died 

more likely the combination of dredging, tugging ànd the tide (they waited for the tide so it was most 'ideal' to tug it back to float)

only óne company worldwide can do such a job on such short notice in such short time!