Race to unblock the Suez Canal: 200,000-ton mega-ship wedged across waterway is partially refloated in bid to allow other vessels to pass amid fears it could cause 'catastrophic delays' to food and vaccine deliveries
Workers racing to free a stricken container ship blocking the Suez Canal have managed to partially refloat the vessel, more than a day after it first got stuck.
Port authority GAC, which controls traffic through the canal, said the 1,312ft-long, 175ft-wide, 200,000-ton MV Ever Given is now being moved alongside the bank from its earlier position blocking the entire waterway.
It raises the prospect that the canal - which sees around 30 per cent of global container ship traffic pass through each day - could partially reopen as cargo ships navigate around the stricken vessel.
However, workers have been unable to say how quickly they will be able to clear a backlog of roughly 100 ships that has built up at either end of the canal, or how long it will take to fully remove the Ever Given.
Dr Sal Mercogliano - a maritime historian and former merchant mariner - previously warned of 'catastrophic delays' to supplies of vital goods, from food to fuel and even vaccines for every moment the canal remains closed.
Analysts revealed today that 10 tankers carrying 13 million barrels of crude oil are already stuck, causing oil prices to spike 2 per cent over fears of a shortage. It is not clear what cargo the Ever Given is carrying.
The only alternative to going through the canal is for vessels to sail around the Horn of Africa and approach the Mediterranean from the west, adding 14 days and 5,000 nautical miles to the journey.
It still is not clear exactly how the accident happened - GAC said the ship suffered a 'blackout', meaning it lost power and steering before becoming stuck; but a spokesman for the canal authority said a sandstorm had blocked the captain's view and blown the ship off course before it got jammed and lost power.
The MV Ever Given - a 1,312ft long, 175ft wide, 200,000 ton cargo ship owned by shipping firm Evergreen - has drifted sideways and become stuck across the width of the Suez Canal, blocking one of the world's busiest shipping lanes
The Ever Given is now aground with its bow lodged in the eastern wall of the canal. Workers are attempting to dig the bow free while tugboats try to shove it back into the waterway
The Ever Given was part of a 20-ship convoy heading north through the canal, from Suez Gulf into the Mediterranean, and since becoming stuck has caused a 100-ship tailback
Satellite images show the vessel lodged in the canal. Because the boat is longer than the waterway is wide, options for moving it are limited
Ship tracking data reveals the extent of the vessels building up on either side of the stuck ship, with 100 of them thought to have been caught up so far - and 50 more arriving per day
Options are therefore limited. Because the boat is wider than the canal itself, it has to come out the exact way it went in. Except that both ends are out of the water, meaning it has no steering.
Virtually every tugboat in Egypt has been sent to try and pull or push her off the wall of the canal, while workers are trying to dig out the canal walls and refloat her, bringing her steering back online.
Efforts have been underway for almost a day, but have so far proved fruitless. The task resumed on Wednesday morning, with no estimate as to how long it will take.
If tugboats and diggers aren't enough to free the vessel, then they only other option is to starting removing weight - either by dumping fuel or unloading cargo, piece by piece.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Dr Mercogliano, who is based in North Carolina, warned that the vessel is in 'a very precarious position'.
'With both ends of the vessel up on the beach there's a tendency for her to sag in the middle, so they have to be very careful in trying to get her off [the wall],' he said.
'If they can't get her up off that position with the tugs they're going to have to start getting fuel out of her, and then containers.
'But the difficulty with getting containers off her is that she's so high, so tall, that it will be very difficult to get the correct size crane in there.'
Underlining the importance of the canal to global trade, he added: 'The world economy, with Covid, you know how much things have slowed down with getting goods around.
'Now all of a sudden you add this to that, you're going to have delays with getting goods to market, we're talking vaccines, we're talking manufacturing goods, food, everything, fuel too, it's potential catastrophic delays.'
Data from Marine Traffic shows several tugs attending to the stricken vessel, though they have failed to pull it clear. The vessel is carrying cargo from Yantain, China to Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Workers are using diggers and heavy machinery to try and dig away the wall of the canal in the hopes of refloating the vessel, meaning its steering should become operational again
Virtually every tugboat in Egypt has been drafted in and are trying to push or pull the huge container ship off the canal walls, but their efforts have so-far proved fruitless
Egyptian officials overseeing the rescue operation discuss their options from on board a tugboat, as the stricken Ever Given is seen through the window
The ship, built in 2018 with a length of nearly 400 meters (a quarter mile) and a width of 59 meters (193 feet), is among the largest cargo ships in the world. It can carry some 20,000 containers at a time.
Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal provides a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo being shipping from East to West. Around 10 per cent of the world's trade flows through the waterway and it remains one of Egypt's top foreign currency earners.
In 2015, the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi completed a major expansion of the canal, allowing it to accommodate the world's largest vessels.
However, the Ever Given ran aground before that new portion of the canal.
The incident Tuesday marks just the latest to affect mariners amid the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands have been stuck aboard vessels due to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, demands on shipping have increased, adding to the pressure on tired sailors, Mercogliano said.
'It's because of the breakneck pace of global shipping right now and shipping is on a very tight schedule,' he said. 'Add to it that mariners have not been able to get on and off vessels because of COVID restrictions.'
The Suez canal was first opened to marine traffic in 1869, and last year almost 19,000 ships passed through it carrying more than one billion tonnes of cargo, according to the Suez Canal Authority.
The canal was closed for several months after the 1956 Suez crisis and again in 1967 for eight years following the Six- Day war.
In February 2019 the Suez Canal Authority announced 75 massive cargo vessels transited the waterway carrying 5.8 million ton on a single day.
Officials on February 6, were able to guide 40 vessels from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean while 35 ships went south.
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