Preparations under way to move the Ever Given to the Great Lakes area.
A massive container ship blocking Egypt’s Suez Canal for nearly a week has been partially refloated, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said on Monday, raising hopes the busy waterway will soon be reopened for a huge backlog of ships.
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The 400-metre (430-yard) long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early last Tuesday, halting shipping traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
The MV Ever Given was successfully re-floated at 04:30 lt 29/03/2021. She is being secured at the moment. More information about next steps will follow once they are known. #suezcanel #maritime pic.twitter.com/f3iuYYiRRi
— Inchcape Shipping (@Inchcape_SS) March 29, 2021
Latest updates:
Oil slumps as ship starts to move
Oil slumped around 2 per cent on Monday after news from the Suez Canal that salvage crews have managed to move the giant container ship that has been clogging up the vital global trade passage for nearly a week.
Brent oil was down $1.19, or 1.8 per cent, at $63.38 a barrel by 0658 GMT. US crude fell $1.34, or 2.2 per cent, to $59.63 a barrel.
Prices have swung wildly in the last few days as traders and investors tried to weigh the impact of the blockage of a key trade transit point and the broader effect of lockdowns to stop coronavirus infections.
That market volatility is set to continue, said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.
“Given the volatility last week, Brent looks set to move to the lower end of its $60.00 to $65.00 a barrel range,” he said, while U.S. oil is “likely to drop to the lower side of its $57.50 to $62.50 a barrel weekly range.”
Completing refloat of ship won’t be easy- Boskalis CEO
News about the partial refloating of the giant container ship that was stuck in the Suez Canal is good, but completing the operation would not be a “piece of cake”, Boskalis CEO Peter Berdowski told Dutch public radio on Monday.
Boskalis is the parent company of Smit Salvage, which has assisted in efforts to dislodge the ship.
A new tug would arrive and water would be injected under the ship’s bow to help free it, but if those efforts did not work containers might have to be removed, Berdowski said.
Ever Given turned 80 per centin ‘right direction’
“The position of the ship has been reorientated 80 per cent in the right direction,” Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority chief Osama Rabie said in a statement.
“The stern… moved to 102 metres (335 feet) from the shore,” compared to its position four metres from the shore previously, he added.
Rabie noted that the process of refloating the ship had begun, “with success”.
The process “will resume when water flow increases again from 11:30 am (0930 GMT)… in order to completely refloat the vessel, so as to reposition it in the middle of the waterway,” the statement added.
Images show ship straightened in Suez Canal
Images showed the container ship that had been blocking the Suez Canal has straightened in the waterway, and two local shipping sources said it had returned to its “normal course”.
Ever Given container ship ‘has turned’ but not afloat:
The ship “has turned” but is not yet afloat, a spokesman for the vessel’s owner said Monday.
The official from Shoei Kisen said the Ever Given was “stuck at an angle of 30 degrees towards the canal but that has eased,” adding that the ship “has turned” but it “is not afloat.”
“A total of 11 tug boats have been pulling Ever Given since this morning,” he added.
The spokesman, who declined to give his name, said there has been damage sustained by the ship on its bow when it got stuck “but no new damage has been reported.”
Big backlog
At least 369 vessels were waiting to transit the canal, including dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels, SCA Chairman Osama Rabie said.
“The ship’s captain is the one responsible for the vessel at all times,” Rabie told Egyptian state television on Monday. “It is very possible that by today noon shipping activity would resume, god willing. We will not waste one second.”
The SCA has said it can accelerate convoys through the canal once the Ever Given is freed.
“We have movement, which is good news. But I wouldn’t say it’s a piece of cake now,” Peter Berdowski, the CEO of Smit Salvage’s parent company Boskalis, told Dutch public radio.
High pressure water would be injected under the bow of the ship to remove sand and clay but if that was unsuccessful, containers might have to be removed from the ship, which would cause a considerable delay, he said.
A source involved in the salvage operation told Reuters on Monday they were re-ballasting the ship and expect that with a favorable tide, cargo will not need to be removed.
“The good news is she’s moved. But she is still stuck in the mud. A second large anchor-handling tug will arrive this morning. Hopefully they will be able to pull her free.”
The ship’s technical manager Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
Cheers erupt, crude prices fall
Video posted on social media appeared to show the ship had swung around, opening space in the canal. Other footage, which could not be immediately verified by Reuters, included cheering and ships’ horns sounding in celebration.
Egyptian crews managed to get the EVER GIVEN ship UNSTUCK & Moving in #Suez Canal after 6 Days!!
pic.twitter.com/E3Oz6LTEA3— Jay Milla (@MillaLiraj) March 29, 2021
Crude oil prices fell after news of progress in refloating the ship, with Brent crude down by $1 per barrel to $63.67. Shares of Taiwan-listed Evergreen Marine Corp – the vessel’s lessor – rose 3.3 per cent.
About 15 per cent of world shipping traffic transits the Suez Canal, which is a key source of foreign currency revenue for Egypt. The current stoppage is costing the canal $14-$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.
Some shippers had decided to reroute their cargoes around the Cape of Good Hope, adding about two weeks to journeys and extra fuel costs.
A note from A.P. Moeller Maersk seen by Reuters said it had so far redirected 15 vessels around the Cape after calculating that the journey would be equal to the current delay of sailing to Suez and queuing.
