The Ever Given, a cargo ship almost as far as the Empire State Building, landed in the Egyptian canal after being caught in 40-knot winds and a sandstorm resulting in low visibility and poor navigation.
It has blocked one of the busiest waterways in the world, prompting wild rescue efforts involving the use of two scrapers, nine tugboats and four diggers on the canal bank.
Diligent scrapers work to remove sand and silt from the ship’s bow – and have to move between 15,000 to 20,000 cubic meters of sand to reach a depth of 12 to 16 meters (39 to 52 feet), which can do allow the vessel to sail, the SCA said Thursday. That’s about eight times the size of an Olympic swimming pool.
“In addition to the scraps already on site, the vessel now has a special switchgear with the vessel and will soon be up and running. This scraper can move 2,000 cubic meters of material each hours, “Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the ship ‘s technical manager Ever Given, said in a statement.
The SCA said it had considered the option of moving the boat, which is 400 meters (1,312 feet) long and 59 meters (193 feet) wide, by scraping the surrounding area.
The SCA’s chief canal pilot told CNN on Wednesday that the relaunch of the large vessel was “technically complex” and would take days.
But companies and countries that have maintained trade with the grid have a high cost every passing day. About 12% of global trade flows through the Suez Canal, and it typically handles about $ 10 billion per day in cargo.
More than 18,800 boats with a net tonnage of 1.17 billion tonnes passed through the canal in 2020. That’s an average of 51.5 boats per day.
At least 160 ships carrying essential fuel and cargo are now waiting to pass through the closed waterway, according to the SCA’s main canal pilot. Some vessels decide to cancel the voyage around Cape Horn to avoid the obstruction of the Suez Canal – but they will have an additional 3,800 miles and up to 12 days of additional sailing time, according to the International Chamber Shipping.
“Not only will the goods aboard the Ever Given be severely delayed on their voyage, but hundreds of other vessels will also be affected. The damage to the global supply chain will great, “said ICS General Secretary Guy Platten.
Experts are concerned that if the vessel is not released soon, the logjam could affect the oil market, shipping and shipping rates, leading to a rise in the cost of everyday goods.
“Most of the trade between Asia and Europe is still dependent on the Suez Canal, and with essential goods including essential medical equipment and PPE, moving through these vessels we are ask the Egyptian authorities as much as they can to reopen the canal as soon as possible. possible, “said Platten.
But the closure may now have a much bigger, more upsetting effect than it did in the last two closures as the level of trade between Europe and Asia has grown sharply in the decades since then.
“The size of the fleet has grown so large that it is very difficult for the Egyptian authorities, in essence, to keep up with the growth,” CNN senior international journalist Bill Wedeman said Thursday. “The size, width and durability of the Suez Canal in the last 50 years has fundamentally doubled and is clearly not yet large enough.”
The Ever Given is owned by Japanese shipping company Shoei Kisen KK. In a press release, Shoei Kisen apologized to other ships that were planning to sail and are now stuck. The company told CNN that they accept that damage will be claimed for what happened, but their main focus now is on refurbishing the vessel.
CNN’s Hamdi Alkhshali and Mostafa Salem contributed to this report.