New attempts planned to free huge vessel stuck in Suez Canal

A giant container ship remained stuck sideways in Egypts Suez Canal for a fifth day Saturday as authorities prepared to make new attempts to free the vessel and reopen a crucial eastwest waterway for global shippingThe Ever Given a Panamaflagged ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe ran aground Tuesday in the narrow canal that runs between Africa and the Sinai PeninsulaThe massive vessel got stuck in a singlelane stretch of the canal about six kilometers 37 miles north of the southern entrance near the city of SuezPeter Berdowski CEO of Boskalis the salvage firm hired to extract the Ever Given said the company hoped to pull the container ship free within days using a combination of heavy tugboats dredging and high tidesHe told the Dutch current affairs show Nieuwsuur on Friday night that the front of the ship is stuck in sandy clay but the rear ldquohas not been completely pushed into the clay and that is positive because you can use the rear end to pull it freerdquoBerdowski said two large tugboats were on their way to the canal and are expected to arrive over the weekend He said the company aims to harness the power of the tugs dredging and tides which he said are expected to be up to 50 centimeters 20 inches higher SaturdayldquoThe combination of the tug boats we will have there more ground dredged away and the high tide we hope that will be enough to get the ship free somewhere early next weekrdquo he saidIf that doesnt work the company will remove hundreds of containers from the front of the ship to lighten it effectively lifting the ship to make it easier to pull free Berdowski saidA crane was already on its way that can lift the containers off the ship he saidAn official at the Suez Canal Authority said the authority planned to make at least two attempts Saturday to free the vessel when the high tide goes downThe official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief journalists Egyptian authorities have prohibited media access to the siteThe salvage mission was turning its focus to the ships lodged bow after some progress was made towards freeing the ships stern the canal service provider Leth Agencies said SaturdayEgypt Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly called the ships predicament a very extraordinary incidentrdquo in his first public comments on the blockage in a press conference in CairoHe said the head of the canal authority Lt Gen Osama Rabei would hold a news conference Saturday in the city of Suez to share more details of the operationYukito Higaki president of Shoei Kisen the company that owns the giant container ship told a news conference in Imabari Japan on Friday night that 10 tugboats were deployed and workers were dredging the banks and sea floor near the vessels bow to try to get it afloat againShoei Kisen said Saturday the company was considering removing containers to lighten the vessel if refloating efforts fail but that would be a difficult operationThe White House said it has offered to help Egypt reopen the canalldquoWe have equipment and capacity that most countries dont have and were seeing what we can do and what help we can berdquo President Joe Biden told reporters FridayAn initial investigation showed the vessel ran aground due to strong winds and ruled out mechanical or engine failure the company and the canal authority saidGAC a global shipping and logistics company had previously said the ship had experienced a power blackout but it did not elaborateA maritime traffic jam grew to around 280 vessels near Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea Port Suez on the Red Sea and in the canal system on Egypts Great Bitter Lake according to canal service provider Leth AgenciesSome vessels began changing course and dozens of ships were still en route to the waterway according to the data firm RefinitivA prolonged closure of the crucial waterway would cause delays in the global shipment chain Some 19000 vessels passed through the canal last year according to official figuresAbout 10 per cent of world trade flows through the canal which is particularly crucial for transporting oil The closure could affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Middle EastIt remained unclear how long the blockage would lastEven after reopening the canal that links factories in Asia to consumers in Europe the waiting containers are likely to arrive at busy ports forcing them to face additional delays before offloadingApparently anticipating long delays the owners of the stuck vessel diverted a sister ship the Ever Greet on a course around Africa instead according to satellite dataOthers also are being diverted The liquid natural gas carrier Pan Americas changed course in the midAtlantic now aiming south to go around the southern tip of Africa according to satellite data from MarineTrafficcomThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever