Global shipping companies have begun diverting goods away from the Suez canal as a barrier to the emergency international waterway with the ever-enlisted vessel on the fourth day.
With the captured vessel holding approximately $ 9.5bn worth of goods in large traffic tags at each end of the canal, seven tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) were diverted. which was removed Friday after the blockade stopped traffic in the Suez Canal.
Three of the tankers were being moved toward the farther route around Africa, via the Cape of Good Hope, data intelligence company Kpler said, adding that most of the tankers that had gone originally set aside for the Suez canal now planted elsewhere.
“The transition of a total of 16 LNG vessels through the Suez canal will be affected if the density continues until the end of this week,” said Rebecca Chia, a Singapore-based Kpler aviator.
As of Friday morning, the vessel remained on the ground in the same position, with tugs and scrapers still working to free her, according to Canal service provider Half Agencies.
An anonymous Egyptian canal authority official told the Associated Press that the refurbishment was a “very sensitive and complex” operation that needed to be “handled carefully.” They wanted “no problems ”Which could extend the closure of the canal.
Canal authorities said late Thursday that they would have to remove between 15,000 to 20,000 cubic meters (530,000 to 706,000 cubic feet) of sand to get to a depth of 12 to 16 meters (39 to 52 feet). That depth is likely to allow the vessel to sail freely again, he said.
At least four 2 long-range tankers that could have been heading for Suez from the Atlantic basin were now likely to assess a corridor around the Cape of Good Hope, Braemar ACM said, based in London, Friday morning. Each LR-2 tanker can carry approximately 75,000 tons of oil.
The international shipping company Maersk said on Friday that it was “looking at all other options” for its nine ships stuck in the queues.
“Everyone is making contingency plans as we speak,” Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at BIMCO, told CNN.
Authorities in Egypt will continue to work with rescue crews from around the world on Friday to free the Ever Given, which crashed across the southern canal on Tuesday when it lost control during a storm.
He was unable to draw worries for free and attempts to dig the bow by diggers came to nothing.
Experts fear that the Panama-registered large ship, which is 400m long and has a tonnage of nearly 220,000, has so far sunk on the sand on every bank of the track- water so that it will not be possible to release it without removing some of her boat. cargo.
A process like this could take weeks, according to Peter Berdowski, chief executive of Boskalis, a specialist scraping company that has put a team to the scene.
“The impact on the global supply chain due to the blocking of vessels in the Suez Canal depends on how long the route will be inaccessible,” Maersk said in a statement on Friday. are closely following the refurbishment works and we are currently looking at all possible alternatives. “
It was also reported that Maesk’s main international competitor, Hapag Lloyd, with Agence-France Presse was considering shipping around the Cape of Good Hope, in southern Africa, to ensure that goods could reach Europe without delay even more.
More than 200 boats were involved at the north and south ends of the canal on Friday. Originally built in the 1860s, the northern region was extended to two lanes in 2015 but the southern region where the Ever Given is connected has only one lane.
About 12% of world trade flows through the 193km (120 mile) waterway, which allows tankers and cruise ships traveling between Asia and Europe to avoid a long journey around Africa .
Lloyd’s List, the shipping data and news company, estimated Friday that $ 9.6bn worth of goods pass through the waterway every day. Lloyd’s says that around $ 5.1bn of that traffic went west from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and $ 4.5bn went the other way.
About a quarter of that traffic is on shipwrecks – like the one that is now dug into one side wall of the waterway. Lloyd’s said more than 50 boats cross the canal on an average day, carrying around 1.2bn tonnes of cargo.
Flavio Macau, senior lecturer in supply chain management at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia, said it made sense for Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd to consider redirecting their shipping as longer delays could at Suez to be expensive.
“If you go to Suez you might expect to be 20th or 30th depending probably because there are about 50 boats in each side every day,” he said. “But now you could be at number 250 so that means you have to wait 3-4 days to get through even when it reopens.
“So they need to work out whether they think the delay will last longer, and if they want to be in danger of waiting another 3-4 days to get through Africa or instead of getting around Africa. This will take 7-10 days longer but there is less risk and certainty in getting to Europe. “
There were also concerns that the Suez situation could raise issues for an international supply chain that was already under pressure from the pandemic and an increase in purchases.
Virus-related restrictions have captured crews on merchant vessels. Controversial ports have led to ships anchored off the coast of California, unable to dump and load their cargo. Lack of semiconductors and rare earth elements has eroded car manufacturers and other consumer products.
“We have a lot of things that reveal a vulnerable supply chain at risk for disputes, and now you’re adding one more than that,” said Julie Swann, a logistics expert at Carolina State University who North.
Jena Santoro, supply chain risk information analyst for Everstream Analytics, said the barrier could “exacerbate congestion at European ports if full arrivals arrive at the same time”. It could also affect the creation of a shortage of non – return vessels in China.
Financial markets are commenting on how commodities are expected to be delayed for weeks, even though the price of oil went up as Friday’s trading day began in Asia. Brent crude was higher by 43c, or 0.7%, at $ 62.38 per barrel by 0028 GMT, after falling 3.8% Thursday.
Macau said while the delay would hurt those directly involved as the Egyptian government, the owners and the insurers, the total damage was not critical.
“We are seeing a loss of efficiency. But we do not lose all shipping, all goods or all shipping routes. We can redirect the flow but it is important to remember that there is no stopping in production or demand. It’s not the zombie apocalypse as some people have said. “