Container shipping experts have said that it could be a “good while” before the Ever Given is freed from its position blocking the Suez Canal, with the ship fast aground and its bulbous bow embedded in the canal bank.
“The canal cross-section profile is an inverted trapezium,” one expert told Container News, “this photo [above] shows the vessel is jammed,” he added, saying it could take some time to free the ship.
Maritime experts say that if the stern is not grounded the vessel may be freed using tugs, but if the stern is also aground then it may take some days to clear the canal. “We should know by the end of today,” added the source.
Dr Sal Mercogliano, professor of maritime history at Campbell University told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, that it will be a “Very precarious” job to set the ship free. Other ships had run aground in the canal before, but never one this large and not blocking the whole waterway, he added.
He went on to say, “Being aground as she is, all the way up on the eastern bank, and she’s listing to port, it’s very hard to be able to pull her off. They’re in a very dangerous, precarious position too, with both ends of the vessel on the beach there’s a potential for the vessel to sag in the middle. If they cannot get her off that position with the tugs, they’re going to have to start removing fuel out of her, and then containers, but the difficulty with getting the containers off her is she’s so high, so tall, that it would be very difficult to get the correct size cranes in there.”
The 20,388TEU Evergreen operated Ever Given is said to have lost power shortly after entering the Suez Canal at the Red Sea end travelling north to Europe from China, the vessel is blocking traffic in both directions.
Ever Given ran aground at the 151km mark at approximately 06:00 hours local time on 23 March with several attempts to move the vessel having failed vessels approaching the canal area from both the north and south are now stacking up, according to local reports.
Claim consultants WK Webster said, “It is now reported that the Ever Given ran hard aground at approximately 06.00 hours (UTC) on 23 March 2021, shortly after entering the Suez Canal in a northbound convoy. Vessel traffic is reportedly blocked in both directions as a result of the grounding. Tugs are understood to be providing assistance to attempt to refloat the vessel.”
There is no indication at this time that the vessel has suffered bottom damage from the grounding.
Evergreen told Container News, “Evergreen Marine Corp. received a notice from the owner of Ever Given that the chartered vessel ran aground in the Suez Canal at around 8am local time on 23 March. This accident occurred at six nautical miles from the southern entry of the Canal as the container ship proceeded northbound through the waterway from the Red Sea. Gusting winds of 30knots caused the container ship to deviate from its course, suspectedly leading to the grounding.
“Evergreen has urged the shipowner to investigate the cause of this accident, and work closely with Suez Canal Authority and related agencies to refloat the stranded ship as soon as possible.
Ever Given is a 20,000TEU-class container ship, currently leased by Evergreen Marine Corp. under a time charter agreement with the crew hired by the shipowner. The ship is currently deployed on a Far East-Europe service route.”
Source: Container News
