![]() ![]() He said the ship’s bow and stern had been lifted up against either side of the canal. “We can’t exclude it might take weeks, depending on the situation,” Berdowski told Dutch television. ![]() However, Peter Berdowski, CEO of Boskalis, a specialist dredging company that has sent a crew to the scene, said data so far suggested “it is not really possible to pull it loose” and that the ship may need to be unloaded. The SCA chairman, Osama Rabie, said: “Once we get this boat out then that’s it, things will go back to normal. The shipping giant Maersk said in a customer advisory it had seven vessels affected. The SCA, which had allowed some vessels to enter the canal in the hope the blockage would be cleared, said it had temporarily suspended all traffic on Thursday. Trade volumes have been hit by ship cancellations, container shortages and slower handling at ports. The blockage comes on top of the disruption the Covid-19 pandemic has caused to world trade in the past year. Tailbacks of oil and gas tankers and bulk grain vessels have developed at both ends of the canal, according to tracking data, creating one of the worst shipping jams for years, of 206 large container ships. From the shore, at least one excavator has dug into the canal’s sandy banks, suggesting the bow of the ship had ploughed into it. It is clear both locations are doing things that will enhance global trade and supply chain facilitation for decades to come.“Evergreen Line will continue to coordinate with the shipowner and Suez Canal Authority to deal with the situation with the utmost urgency, ensuring the resumption of the voyage as soon as possible and to mitigate the effects of the incident,” Evergreen said.Įfforts to refloat the 400-metre-long, 220,000-tonne Ever Given resumed on Thursday after a brief overnight suspension.ĭredgers have so far tried to clear silt around the ship, and tugboats have tried to nudge it free. ![]() In February, the Egyptians announced an increased discount for LNG carriers, lowering rates for the first time since 1994. Assuming a speed of 19.5 knots, the reduced distance can result in savings of around 22 days on a round trip voyage from Panama. Gulf to Japan will be around 9,214 nautical miles, compared with 14,570 nautical miles via the Suez Canal. Once the expanded canal in Panama is operational, it will become the shortest route for moving gas commodities from the Gulf of Mexico to North Asia. gearing up to export liquefied natural gas (LNG), both locations will be battling for that traffic from America.Ĭurrently only 23 ships in the global fleet of 421 LNG carriers can pass through the Panama Canal. is now the largest carbon producer in the world. While no one predicted it a few years ago, the U.S. Going forward, the energy revolution might play an even more significant role in determining how the two canals interact with one another. Moreover, Panama recently announced a new customer-loyalty program for the container segment that will see shippers receive "premium prices" once a particular volume is reached. The expansion at Suez is an $8 billion investment, which is being directed by the Egyptian army and financed by Egypt’s citizens who have enthusiastically purchased Canal Investment Certificates.Īs the expansion at Panama gets closer to being finished, Suez is feeling the heat to retain its superiority in handling the biggest ships in the world. It is the biggest project at Suez since the completion of the canal 150 years ago. In addition to widening the canal, construction is underway for an industrial and logistics hub. Just this past March, Panama announced it was also considering construction of yet another set of locks to handle even larger vessels, those that can handle in excess of 20,000 twenty-foot equivalents (TEUs).Įgypt has launched equally bold plans at Suez. Scheduled for April 2016, a new set of locks will allow some of the biggest ships in the world better access to U.S. In Central America, the long-awaited $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal - the 50-mile waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans -is nearing completion. Presently, Panama and Suez are challenging one another for supremacy of the container shipping market for imports into the U.S. In discussions with senior officials in both countries, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is a healthy competition stirring between the two. Over the past eight weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to visit Panama and Egypt to get a first-hand sense of the dramatic expansions occurring around each of their canals. ![]()
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