Temporarily suspending navigation in the Suez Canal until the stranded vessel resurfaces

ArabiaWeather - An elite team has begun arriving in Egypt in preparation for the enormous challenge of liberating the huge container ship Ever Given, which is blocking the Suez Canal and causing ships to accumulate in one of the most important waterways in the world.

As work continues today, Thursday, to re-float the Ever Given ship, and to free up tankers carrying $ 10 billion in oil and consumer goods. But the locomotives and excavators have not yet succeeded in moving the ship, and the Suez Canal Authority has stopped navigation in the canal amid continuing efforts to float the ship and resolve the crisis that may last until Monday.

To clarify the problem, we must first understand how huge this ship is, with a length of about 400 meters and a weight of 200 thousand tons, and the huge yellow dredger whose height is twice the length of its driver looked like a children's toy next to the huge bow of the ship, so its enormous size needs tremendous efforts to clear it In addition, displacing a very large container ship from the ground in the Suez Canal would be difficult due to the confined nature of the canal.

Now the task of liberating the ship and reloading it rests with SMIT Salvage BV, the legendary Dutch pioneer in ship salvage. The Japanese Nippon Salvage was also contracted to assist in the ship's floatation.

Lifeguards may first have to relieve the ship's enormous weight by removing things like ballast water (which helps keep ships stationary when at sea), and fuel can also be discharged.

The Suez Canal Authority did not give any indication of when traffic would resume, but according to Nick Sloan, the rescue expert in charge of resuming the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that capsized on the Mediterranean coast in Italy in 2012, the opportunity to return freight traffic could be delayed in return. To normal until Sunday or Monday when the tide is at its peak.

The Suez Canal is considered one of the most important waterways in the world, with about 12% of global trade passing through the canal, and at the present time movement is stopped in the southern part of the canal because of the ship, which caused another setback for the already tense global supply chains due to the e-commerce boom associated with the epidemic. And the pandemic that the world is going through, which is another big blow to global trade in the year it was hit by a series of strikes.

A rough estimate shows that this shutdown is affecting $ 9.6 billion of traffic per day, as westbound traffic is worth about $ 5.1 billion per day and eastbound traffic is about $ 4.5 billion. On Wednesday alone, there were about 165-185 ships waiting to cross the canal.

We note here that the event began on Tuesday when strong winds blew across the region and raised sand along the banks of the canal and the narrow waterway - which reduced the visibility, but the vessel Evergiven continued its course across the canal from China and headed to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and when sandstorms swept through the region. , The crew lost control of the ship and veered sideways to a sand embankment on the side, closing almost the entire channel. The ship is still in the same position it was in when it ran aground.

Details are with Mr. Mohab Mamish, Advisor to the Egyptian President for Suez Canal Projects