IMABARI, Japan / CAIRO – The vessel blocking the Suez Canal was sunk in the banks of the canal on Saturday night despite the failure of rescue crews to implement the rudder, in the hope of a reduction. The large 400-meter vessel by Sunday.
Work to remove the Ever Given was carried out using 10 thatched boats at high tide, but according to a representative from the Japanese company that owns the vessel, Shoei Kisen, the work is more difficult than expected.
“Tugs began towing at 15:45 local time, but the ship did not move. Initially the work was expected to take two or three hours, but the tubs will continue to pull, at different angles, to They have two large pipes on their way, but delays have occurred and it is likely that they will reach the site not until Sunday night, “said Toshiaki Fujiwara, the company ‘s senior managing director, to Nikkei.
He said after midnight scraping work they would continue to wait for the big tubs.
“If we start cargo removal activity, it will be from Monday at the earliest,” he said.
The impact of the five-day critical trade arterial block on the New York market was felt on Friday, as crude oil prices rose 4% to more than $ 60 a barrel amid growing concerns that traffic would be through canal continues.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the vessel’s technical manager, said two towing boats were being dispatched Sunday to provide additional assistance. The company said it was aiming to remove sand and mud on the port side of the ship while the Suez Canal Authority estimated it would be necessary to remove 15,000-20,000 cubic meters of land and sand. .
U.S. White House news secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that the U.S. was ready to provide assistance for the effort, as CNN said the U.S. Navy planned to deploy a team of experts to investigate the incident. -location. Japanese and Dutch companies were already on site working to release the vessel, and Turkey, which has a recent alliance with Egypt, has recalled offering a thatched ship. sent away.
More than 200 vessels are stranded around the canal waiting to cross the canal, but more are considering taking the alternative route further around the Cape of Good Hope at the end of the canal. south Africa.
Fear of rising transportation costs also includes buying on oil futures markets. Prolonged closures would push shipments of Mideast crude oil and natural gas into Europe, which could raise the price of Brent futures, an international barometer of energy prices.
“Rising international crude oil prices will be a burden on Japanese companies,” said Tomomichi Akuta, senior energy researcher at Mitsubishi UFJ Research & Consulting. “Going around the Cape of Good Hope will push up logistics costs and put downward pressure on the economy.”
But some analysts say more European cities are resetting lock-in measures to combat the pandemic and spring revenue will bring down demand for fuel, limiting rising prices.
Prolonged closures could also flood the Asian market with oil and gas as supplies are shifted to that region instead of Europe, leading many to believe that prices are unlikely to continue to rise.
“Spot prices for raw and smelted natural glass Dubai will fall due to additional shipments to Asia. For some Japanese companies, this will lead to cost reductions,” said Tatsufumi Ogoshi, senior economist at Nomura Securities .