With ship now freed, probe into Suez Canal blockage begins

Experts on Tuesday boarded the massive container ship that had blocked Egypts vital Suez Canal and disrupted global trade for nearly a week seeking answers to a single question that could mean billions of dollars in legal implications What went wrongAs convoys of ships again began traveling in this artery linking East and West through the Mediterranean and Red Seas hundreds more idled waiting for their turn in process that will take days Egyptian government officials insurers shippers and others similarly waited for more details about what caused the skyscrapersized Ever Given to become wedged across the canals southern singlelane on March 23When blame gets assigned it could turn into years of litigation over the costs of repairing the ship fixing the canal and reimbursing those who saw their cargo shipments disrupted And with the vessel being owned by a Japanese firm operated by a Taiwanese shipper flagged in Panama and now stuck in Egypt matters quickly become an international morassldquoThis ship is a multinational conglomeration said Capt John Konrad the founder and CEO of the shipping news website gcaptaincomExperts boarded the Ever Given as it idled Tuesday in Egypts Great Bitter Lake just north of the site where it previously blocked the canal A senior canal pilot speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists told The Associated Press that experts were looking for signs of damage and trying to determine the cause of the vessels groundingDamage to the vessel could be structural Konrad warned Stuck for days across the canal the ships middle rose and fell with the tide bending up and down under the tremendous weight of some 20000 containers across its 400meter quartermile length On Monday when workers partially floated the ship all that pressure came forward to its bow which acted as a pivot point until the ship ultimately came freeldquoStructural integrity is No 1 You know there was a lot of strain on that ship as it was sagging in the waterwayrdquo Konrad said ldquoThey have to check everything for cracks and particularly that rudder and the propeller in the back thats connected to the engine roomrdquoAnd then they have to go through all the mechanical equipment make sure they test the engines all the safety valves all the equipment and then determine that its safe to sail either by itself or with a tug escort to the next port he addedAs of Tuesday morning more than 300 vessels carrying everything from crude oil to cattle were waiting on both ends of the Suez Canal and in the Great Bitter Lake for permission to continue sailing to their destinations canal service provider Leth Agencies saidThe ships owner the Japanese firm Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd said Tuesday that it would be part of the investigation along with other parties though it did not identify them by name It also refused to discuss possible causes of the incident including the ships speed and the high winds that buffeted it during a sandstorm saying it cannot comment on an ongoing investigation Initial reports also suggested a lsquoblackoutrsquo struck the vessel something denied by the ships technical managerThe company added that any damage to the ship was believed to be mostly on its keel It said it was not immediately known whether the vessel will be repaired on site in Egypt or elsewhere or whether it will eventually head to its initial destination of Rotterdam That is a decision to be made by its operator rather than the shipowner the company saidThe grounding of the ship had halted billions of dollars a day in maritime commerce Those losses as well as physical damage from the incident likely will see lawsuitsShoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd is covered with some 3 billion dollars in liability insurance through 13 Protection amp Indemnity Clubs Those clubs are notforprofit mutual insurers used by the vast majority of global shipping firmsGlobal legal firm Clyde and Co said the Ever Givens owner likely would pay Egypts canal authority for the assistance already rendered to the vessel The authority also could fine the Ever GivenldquoWe anticipate a detailed investigation will follow which will determine the cause the firm said ldquoEvidently the cause will impact upon the legal liabilities of the ship and cargo interestsOn Monday a flotilla of tugboats helped by the tides wrenched the bulbous bow of Ever Given from the canals sandy bank where it had been firmly lodged since March 23 The tugs blared their horns in jubilation as they guided the Ever Given through the water after days of futility that had captivated the world drawing scrutiny and social media ridiculeAnalysts expect it could take at least another 10 days to clear the backlog on either end of the Suez CanalThe Ever Given had crashed into a bank of a singlelane stretch of the canal about 6 kilometers 37 miles north of the southern entrance near the city of Suez That forced some ships to take the long alternate route around the Cape of Good Hope at Africas southern tip a 5000kilometer 3100mile detour that costs ships hundreds of thousands of dollars in fuel and other costsThis 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