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world news Diahuebs 25 Maart 2021

Massive cargo ship becomes wedged, blocks Egypt's Suez Canal

(AP) — A skyscraper- Ossama Rabei, head of the
sized container ship has Suez Canal Authority.
become wedged across
Egypt's Suez Canal and Bernhard Schulte Shipman-
blocked all traffic in the agement, which manages the
vital waterway, officials Ever Given, said all 20 mem-
said Wednesday, threat- bers of the crew were safe
ening to disrupt a global and that there had been "no
shipping system already reports of injuries or pollu-
strained by the coronavi- tion.”
rus pandemic.
It wasn't immediately clear
The Ever Given, a Panama- what caused the Ever Given
flagged ship that carries cargo to become wedged on Tues-
between Asia and Europe, ran day morning. GAC, a global
aground Tuesday in the nar- shipping and logistics com-
row, man-made canal divid- pany, said the ship had ex-
ing continental Africa from perience a blackout without
the Sinai Peninsula. Images elaborating.
showed the ship's bow was
touching the eastern wall, Bernhard Schulte, howev-
while its stern looked lodged er, denied the ship ever lost A pilot from Egypt’s canal kilometers (3.7 miles) north private marine intelligence
against the western wall — power. authority typically boards a of the southernly mouth firm Dryad Global.
an extraordinary event that ship to guide it through the of the canal near the city of
experts said they had never Evergreen Marine Corp., a waterway, though the ship's Suez, an area of the canal The closure also could affect
heard of happening before in major Taiwan-based ship- captain retains ultimate au- that's a single lane. oil and gas shipments to Eu-
the canal's 150-year history. ping company that operates thority over the vessel, said rope from the Mideast. The
the ship, said in a statement Ranjith Raja, a lead analyst at That could have a major price of international bench-
Tugboats strained Wednesday that the Ever Given had been the data firm Refinitiv. The knock-on effect for global mark Brent crude jumped
to try to nudge the obstruc- overcome by strong winds as vessel entered the canal some shipping moving between nearly 2.9% to $62.52 a barrel
tion out of the way as ships it entered the canal from the 45 minutes before it became the Mediterranean Sea and Wednesday.
hoping to enter the waterway Red Sea but none of its con- stuck, moving at 12.8 knots the Red Sea, warned Salva-
began lining up in the Medi- tainers had sunk. (about 24 kph, 15 mph) just tore R. Mercogliano, a for- The Ever Given, built in
terranean and Red Seas. But before the crash, he said. mer merchant mariner and 2018 with a length of nearly
it remained unclear when the An Egyptian official, who associate professor of history 400 meters (a quarter mile)
route, through which around spoke to The Associated An image posted to Insta- at North Carolina’s Camp- and a width of 59 meters
10% of world trade flows and Press on condition of ano- gram by a user on another bell University. (193 feet), is among the larg-
which is particularly crucial nymity because he wasn't waiting cargo ship appeared est cargo ships in the world.
for the transport of oil, would authorized to brief journal- to show the Ever Given “Every day, 50 vessels on av- It can carry some 20,000 con-
reopen. One official warned ists, similarly blamed a strong wedged across the canal as erage go through that canal, tainers at a time. It previously
it could take at least two days. wind. Egyptian forecasters shown in satellite images and so the closing of the canal had been at ports in China
In the meantime, there were said high winds and a sand- data. A backhoe appeared to means no vessels are transit- before heading toward Rot-
concerns that idling ships storm plagued the area Tues- be digging into the sand bank ing north and south,” Mer- terdam in the Netherlands.
could become targets for at- day, with winds gusting as under its bow in an effort to cogliano told the AP. "Every
tacks. much as 50 kph (30 mph). free it. day the canal is closed ... con- Opened in 1869, the Suez
tainer ships and tankers are Canal provides a crucial link
“The Suez Canal will not However, it remained un- The Egyptian official said not delivering food, fuel and for oil, natural gas and cargo.
spare any efforts to ensure clear how winds of that speed tugboats hoped to refloat the manufactured goods to Eu- It also remains one of Egypt’s
the restoration of navigation alone would have been able ship and that the operation rope and goods are not being top foreign currency earn-
and to serve the movement of to push a fully laden vessel would take at least two days. exported from Europe to the ers. In 2015, the government
global trade,” vowed Lt. Gen. weighing some 220,000 tons. The ship ran aground some 6 Far East.” of President Abdel-Fattah
el-Sissi completed a major
Already, some 30 vessels expansion of the canal, al-
waited at Egypt's Great Bitter lowing it to accommodate
Lake midway on the canal, the world’s largest vessels.
while some 40 idled in the However, the Ever Given ran
Mediterranean near Port Said aground south of that new
and another 30 at Suez in the portion of the canal.
Red Sea, according to canal
service provider Leth Agen- The stranding Tuesday marks
cies. That included seven just the latest to affect mari-
vessels carrying some 5 mil- ners amid the pandemic.
lion barrels of crude oil, Re- Hundreds of thousands have
finitiv said. been stuck aboard vessels due
In addition to the economic to the pandemic. Meanwhile,
implications, security experts demands on shipping have
warned that idling ships in increased, adding to the pres-
the Red Sea could be targets sure on tired sailors, Merco-
after a series of attacks against gliano said.
shipping in the Mideast amid
tensions between Iran and “It’s because of the breakneck
the U.S. pace of global shipping right
now and shipping is on a very
“All vessels should consider tight schedule,” he said. "Add
adopting a heightened pos- to it that mariners have not
ture of alertness if forced to been able to get on and off
remain static within the Red vessels because of COVID
Sea or Gulf of Aden,” warned restrictions.”