Filenews 28 March 2021
Ever Given's new detachment operation is set to take place today, with the huge container ship blocking the ship for a sixth day on the Suez Canal, one of the world's main shipping routes. The flooding expected in the evening is expected to facilitate the project.
In a telephone interview with an Egyptian tv station last night, Admiral Osama Ryby, president of the Egyptian Suez Canal Authority (SCA), said the vessel was moved "30 degrees to the right and left" for the first time.
"This is a good indication," according to him, of the evolution of the ship's detachment efforts.
However, he stressed that "it is difficult to determine when the problem with the cargo ship blocking the passage of the ships will be resolved.
According to the Dutch company involved in the detachment of the vessel, the giant ship may be detached by early next week thanks to the combination of the use of larger tugs, dredging operations and flooding.
The vessel weighing more than 220,000 tons and a length of 400 meters has been stationed since Tuesday in the southern part of the Canal, near the city of Suez, blocking traffic in the canal, which accounts for more than 10% of international maritime trade.
As a result, more than 300 vessels have gathered at both ends of the channel, which connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, Ubi said yesterday.
Each day of blockade causes significant delays and costs for industry players, while the first tangible effects are felt: Syria said yesterday that it had started to impose a fuel distribution ticket due to a delay in the delivery of an oil shipment.
Financial losses
The Canal authorities, for their part, have pointed out that Egypt is losing between 12 and 14 million dollars for each day of exclusion, while the shipping publication Lloyd's List estimates, according to the RES, that the vessel blocks goods each day, the value of which corresponds to approximately €8.1 billion.
Websites monitoring navigation, such as Vesselfinder or Marine Traffic, today showed dozens of ships waiting in the Gulf of Suez, in the waiting area in the middle of the channel, or at its entrance to the Mediterranean near Port-Said.
Plan b
In addition to tugboats, dredgers are used to remove the sand on which the vessel is stuck.
The flooding planned for this evening could help the SCA's technical services and specialists appointed by the ship's management company.
The head of the Suez Canal Authority, Osama Rabia, estimated that it is not necessary to remove some of the 18,300 containers to lighten the ship's cargo, but strong tides and winds complicate efforts to free it.
If after digging the sand and pulling the ship with tugs it is not able to move the ship, the crews attempting may eventually have to remove certain containers. Transferring the ship's cargo to another vessel or to the shore of the channel would involve the transport of special equipment, including a crane that would need to extend to a height of more than 60 metres.
"Human error"
As for the cause of the incident, Ubi, who spoke for the first time at a press conference yesterday, spoke of possible "human error." According to him, the weather conditions initially reported are not the only reason for the ship's stranding.
"If the 400-metre-long and 59-metre-wide ship passed through the new Channel there would be no accident," Mr. Rabia said, while noting that the sandstorm contributed to the problem but also spoke of a possible "technical problem" or "technical error."
That is why, as he pointed out, all attempts to detach the ship are continuing, but at the same time an investigation into the causes is under way.
After all, as he pointed out, before "Evergreen", a further twelve ships had passed without any problems at all.
"The weather was a reason, but maybe there was a technical fault or human error," he said, adding that the investigation was ongoing.
How the ship got stuck
Utilizing satellite positioning technology, a vessel finder video simulates the course of the "MV Ever Given".
The video's creators used the stigma from the transmitter of the huge cargo ship inside the Suez Canal until the captain lost control due to strong winds and the 400m-long vessel blocked the Suez Canal causing a "heart attack" on one of the world's major maritime trade arteries.
Greece, as a predominantly maritime nation with the largest commercial fleet in the world, attaches particular importance to the value of free and unhindered navigation worldwide and has therefore been directly mobilised on the major issue that has arisen with the closure of the Suez Canal following the stranding of the container ship "Evergreen", the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Maritime and Island Policy said in a joint statement.
In particular, it is known that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy and the Hellenic Association of TugBoat Owners, Lifeguard and Anti-Pollution Vessels informed, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Administration of the Suez Canal that Greece is fully prepared to provide all possible assistance and assistance to the friendly country Egypt for the restoration of navigation, both at the towing level of the ship "Evergreen" and at the level of dredging operations.
In any case, it is stressed, the Greek side is closely monitoring developments in the hope that very soon the Suez Canal will again be available in international shipping.
Egypt's "thank you"
Special thanks to the USA, China, the United Arab Emirates and Greece expressed by Egypt for the support they offered to give.
The president of the Suez Canal Authority, Osama Rabia, said the issue was being closely watched by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. He pointed out that the ship was stranded at the 151st kilometre of the Old Suez Canal and not at the new Canal Canal, which opened in August 2015.
Source: eyenews/tanea.gr
And rumours that the captain of the vessel has been identified . . .!!!
