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The Ever Given’s charterer said it could take at least a couple of days of dredging around the stuck container ship before enough sand and mud is cleared to attempt a refloat on a high tide.
There are 10 tugs on site in the Suez Canal, a special dredger has been deployed, while two additional tugs are due to arrive by Sunday. Meanwhile, the rescue team said it would start lifting boxes off the vessel this weekend to lighten the load.
When a Desert Wind Blew $10 Billion of Global Trade Off Course
The U.S. is looking into how it can help to unblock the canal, President Joe Biden said. The U.S. Navy expects to send an assessment team of dredging experts to the canal as soon as Saturday, CNN reported, citing two Defense Department officials.
The pile-up of ships is creating another setback for global supply chains already strained by the e-commerce boom linked to the pandemic. About 12% of global trade transits the canal that’s so strategic world powers have fought over it.
Key Highlights:
- Two more tugs will arrive at the Ever Given by Sunday, ship management company says
- U.S. President Joe Biden has offered help
- Maersk has diverted more vessels to sail around Africa
- There are more than 320 vessels lined up, according to the Suez Canal Authority
- Ever Given’s rudder and propellers appear to be working: SCA
- Explainers: Why the Suez Canal is so important, and why shipping was in a bind even before this crisis
Canal Chief Sounds Optimistic Note (2:05 p.m. London)
The latest efforts to free the vessel have begun to pay off, and new attempts to refloat it could begin Saturday or Sunday, Suez Canal Authority chief Osama Rabie told reporters.
Declining to lay out a timeline for when the operation could be completed, Rabie said 10 tug boats are on site. There are currently more than 320 ships waiting to move, and authorities are working to provide them with all necessary services.
The canal is taking a revenue hit of as much as $14 million a day from the blockage, Rabie said.
Excavation Could Take Days (1:50 p.m. London)
Excavation will take at least two to three days of digging to reach the required depth for the stranded ship to refloat, charterer Evergreen Line said in a statement dated March 26.
Maersk Diverts 14 Container Ships South of Africa (12:52 p.m. London)
Logistics company AP Moller-Maersk A/S has diverted 14 vessel around the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, to avoid the Suez canal. The number of rerouted ships is up from 12 yesterday and the company said it expects the number to increase.
“For every day the canal remains blocked, the ripple effects on global capacity and equipment continues to increase,” Maersk said in a statement.
Dredging Set to Resume (12:40 p.m. London)
Tugs are connecting up to resume reflotation operations, according to Inchcape Shipping Service. Dredgers are currently working and there are some divers around the Ever Given vessel.
Egyptian Prime Minister Comments (12:09 p.m. London)
In the first public comment from an Egyptian government official on the incident, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said the country was racing against time to restore movement to the facility vital to the entire world and was keen to complete the work as soon as possible.
Livestock Vessels Stranded (9:24 a.m. London)
Several vessels laden with livestock and containers en route to Jordan are stranded near the Suez Canal, Captain George Dahdal, Representative of Jordan Navigation Syndicate, said by phone. Seven vessels loaded with 92,000 livestock that were supposed to arrive to Aqaba on March 21 are stranded. Other vessels loaded with containers including food and other commodities are still stuck due to the traffic jam, Dahdal said.
Stuck in Suez: Thousands of Animals Packed Tight on Ships
Qatar Airways Gets Air Freight Queries (6 a.m. London)
Qatar Airways, one of the world’s largest cargo airlines, said shippers stuck in the canal were sending queries as a precautionary measure. The airline expects “to see firmer interest in the coming days if the situation remains the same,” a spokesperson for the company said in response to questions from Bloomberg.
Timing Couldn’t be Worse, Moody’s Says
The canal’s temporary closure might affect 10%-15% of world container throughput, Moody’s Investors Service estimated earlier this week. Under normal circumstances, the temporary delays in global supply chains would not be a “big issue,” it said. However, a global shortage in container capacity and low service reliability has made supply chains highly vulnerable to external shocks despite high consumer demand, its analysts said.
“The timing of this event could not have been worse,” analysts including Daniel Harlid wrote in a March 25 report.
Insurers May Be on Hook for Millions (12:42 a.m. London)
There were potentially thousands of insurance policies taken out on the steel boxes stacked high on Ever Given. They could result in millions of dollars in payouts.
The blockage is set to unleash a flood of claims by everyone affected, from those in the shipping industry to those in the commodities business. Read the story here.
— With assistance by Salma El Wardany, Mirette Magdy, Jack Wittels, Alex Longley, Julian Lee, Anthony Di Paola, Javier Blas, Robert Tuttle, Aaron Clark, Fred Pals, Yvonne Yue Li, Elaine He, Joe Deaux, Sergio Chapa, Sheela Tobben, Thomas Black, Cindy Wang, Sharon Cho, Dan Murtaugh, Carlos Caminada, Lucia Kassai, Will Wade, Kyunghee Park, Jinshan Hong, Kevin Varley, Ann Koh, Siddharth Vikram Philip, Stephen Stapczynski, Hanna Hoikkala, Anna Shiryaevskaya, Agnieszka de Sousa, Yuko Takeo, Emi Urabe, Jana Randow, Alexander Weber, Yuliya Fedorinova, Volodymyr Verbyany, Megan Durisin, Prejula Prem, Mohith Velamala, Sherry Su, Deirdre Hipwell, Vanessa Dezem, Alberto Brambilla, Layan Odeh, Abeer Abu Omar, and Mohammad Tayseer