Suez Canal traffic resumes as Ever Given ship partially re-floated

RSS Feed

Suez Canal traffic resumes as Ever Given ship partially re-floated

March 30th, 2021

Awake Goy

The giant container ship Ever Given that blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week was fully floated on Monday and traffic in the waterway would resume, the canal authority said in a statement.

The giant container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week is fully floated and traffic in the waterway is fully resumed. A Reuters witness saw the ship moving and positioned in the centre of the canal https://t.co/WzzR3nzhb1

— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) March 29, 2021

A Reuters witness saw the ship moving and a shipping tracker and Egyptian TV showed it positioned in the center of the canal. The stranded container ship blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week and was re-floated on Monday. It is currently being secured, Inchcape Shipping Services said.

The 400-meter (430-yard) long Ever Given was successfully re-floated at 4.30 am local time (0230 GMT) and was being secured, Inchcape, a global provider of marine services said on Twitter.

— Inchcape Shipping (@Inchcape_SS) March 29, 2021

Video posted on social media appeared to show the ship’s stern 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.

Ship-tracking service VesselFinder has changed the ship’s status to under way on its website.Evergreen Line said on Monday that the Ever Given container ship would be inspected for seaworthiness after being dislodged from a southern section of the Suez Canal where it had been blocking traffic for nearly a week.Taiwan listed Evergreen, which is leasing the ship, said decisions regarding the vessel’s cargo would be made after the inspection and that it would coordinate with the ship’s owner after investigation reports were completed.

The Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early on Tuesday, halting shipping traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

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 told Egypt’s Extra News on Sunday.

The ship’s technical manager Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

Egypt’s Leth Agencies tweeted the ship had been partially refloated, pending official confirmation from the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

Crude oil prices fell after news the ship had been re-floated, 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%.

About 15% 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.

The SCA has said it can accelerate convoys through the canal once the Ever Given is freed.

Source