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<\/p>\nAn attempt to refloat a megaship blocking Egypt\u2019s Suez Canal failed Friday, the vessel\u2019s managers said, as the crisis forced companies to re-route services from the vital shipping lane around Africa.<\/p>\n
The MV Ever Given, which is longer than four football fields, has been wedged diagonally across the entire canal since Tuesday, shutting the waterway in both directions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother attempt to refloat the vessel earlier today\u2026 was not successful,\u201d the Singapore-based Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) said in a statement.<\/p>\n
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The blockage has caused a huge traffic jam for more than 200 ships at either end of the 193-kilometre (120-mile) long canal and major delays in the delivery of oil and other products.<\/p>\n
Shoei Kisen Kaisha, the Japanese company that owns the Ever Given, had said earlier Friday that crews were using tugboats and dredgers to refloat the ship.<\/p>\n
BSM said \u201cthe focus is now on dredging to remove sand and mud from around the port side of the vessel\u2019s bow\u201d.<\/p>\n
It said Smit Salvage, a Dutch firm that has worked on some of the most famous wrecks of recent years, confirmed there would be \u201ctwo additional tugs\u201d arriving by Sunday to assist.<\/p>\n
\u201cArrangements are also being made for high-capacity pumps to reduce the water levels in the forward void space of the vessel and the bow thruster room,\u201d BSM added.<\/p>\n
It said there had been \u201cno reports of pollution or cargo damage and initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding\u201d.<\/p>\n
Crews had been seen working through the night, using a large dredging machine under floodlights.<\/p>\n
But the vessel with gross tonnage of 219,000 and deadweight of 199,000 has yet to budge, forcing global shipping giant Maersk and Germany\u2019s Hapag-Lloyd to look into re-routing around the southern tip of Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the Suez Canal set to remain blocked for at least another day or two, shipping companies are being forced to confront the spectre of taking the far longer route around the Cape of Good Hope to get to Europe or the east coast of North America,\u201d said Lloyd\u2019s List, a shipping data and news company.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first container ship to do this is Evergreen\u2019s Ever Greet\u2026 a sistership to Ever Given,\u201d it said, adding the route takes an additional 12 days.<\/p>\n
Egypt\u2019s Suez Canal Authority said the megaship veered off course and ran aground when winds reaching 40 knots whipped up a sandstorm that affected visibility.<\/p>\n
BSM also said that \u201cinitial investigations suggest the vessel grounded due to strong wind\u201d.<\/p>\n
Shipping expert Rose George said it was \u201cinevitable there\u2019s going to be some knock-on cost effect\u201d for consumers around the world.<\/p>\n
George also cast doubt on the official reason that gusts of wind caused the ship\u2019s grounding.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s true, but I do know that more than two thirds of marine accidents are due to human error,\u201d she told AFP in London.<\/p>\n
Lloyd\u2019s List said data indicated 213 vessels were now stalled at either end of the canal, which links the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.<\/p>\n
The blockage was holding up an estimated $9.6 billion worth of cargo each day between Asia and Europe, it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRough calculations suggest westbound traffic is worth around $5.1 billion daily while eastbound traffic is worth $4.5 billion,\u201d said Lloyd\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The canal authority has said between 15,000 and 20,000 cubic metres of sand would have to be removed in order to reach a depth of 12-16 metres and refloat the ship.<\/p>\n
If those efforts fail, salvage teams will look to unload some of the Ever Given\u2019s cargo and take advantage of a spring high tide next week to move the vessel.<\/p>\n
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi\u2019s seaports adviser, Mohab Mamish, who oversaw the recent expansion of the waterway, told AFP late Thursday that \u201cmaritime navigation will resume again within 48-72 hours, maximum\u201d.<\/p>\n
Salvage experts had already warned the shutdown could last days or even weeks, however.<\/p>\n
Turkey on Friday offered to send a tugboat to help Egypt free the Panama-flagged vessel, as it pressed on with its bid to mend ties with regional rivals.<\/p>\n
Crude prices jumped by almost six percent Wednesday in response to the canal blockage.<\/p>\n
But they tumbled on Thursday, at one point completely wiping out the gains.<\/p>\n
\u201cOil prices corrected excess gains that accumulated from the Suez Canal blockage as the disruption\u2019s effect is likely not one that will last too long,\u201d said Bjornar Tonhaugen of energy consultancy Rystad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An attempt to refloat a megaship blocking Egypt\u2019s Suez Canal failed Friday, the vessel\u2019s managers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n