Earlier reports that the Ever Given has been fully re-floated appear to have been a little premature as shipmanager Bernard Schulte Shipmanagment (BSM) confirms that while progress has been made the vessel is not fully afloat.
Vessel owner Shoei Kisen Kaisha has confirmed to Container News that the vessel remains partially aground, and that the next high tide at 11:42 local time will see a further attempt to shift the vessel.
Hopes that attempts to fully re-float the vessel on the next high tide are high given that the ship now appears to be at a better angle for tugs to pull the vessel free and the vessel’s own propeller and rudder remain in working order.
Admiral Osama Rabie, chairman and MD at the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), announced that the Ever Given, “Has been successfully refloated”.
Although he qualified that with, “This was the result of successful push and tow manoeuvres which led to the restoration of 80% of the vessel’s direction; with the stern 102m away from the bank of the canal now instead of 4m. prior to the refloating.”
He went on to say that further manoeuvres will be undertaken during high tide at 11:30am, which will allow “The full restoration of the vessel’s direction so it is positioned in the middle of the navigable waterway.”
Technical manager BSM, meanwhile, confirmed to Container News, that “Significant progress was made overnight in operations to re-float the Ever Given. Those operations and efforts continue today with the aim of fully re-floating the vessel and allowing marine traffic to resume.”
The ship manager did not, however, explain why the vessel is listing to port. It could be that a breach of the hull has allowed water to flood the port side or that salvage teams have added ballast to the port side to help with the salvage.
Earlier, Container News reported that the stranded container ship which ran aground in the Suez Canal on 23 March has been successfully re-floated at 04:30 local time, following an operation that included up to 13 tugs and two dredgers removing more than 27,0000 tonnes of mud from beneath the ship’s bow. This was partially true as the ship has moved significantly from the position at which it came to rest on 23 March.
Once refloated, Ever Given will be secured and it is expected that the vessel will be towed to the Port of Suez at the southern entrance to the canal, before the more than 350 vessels waiting to transit the canal can resume their journeys. Experts expect the backlog of ships at the canal to take more than a week to clear, but with many container ship schedules out of sink the effects of the grounding in European ports could be felt for much longer.
Salvage teams had been concerned about their prospects for a successful operation when it was discovered on 28 March, that the ship was beached on a mass of rock, complicating the operation. However, Suez Canal tugs did manage to move the vessel over the weekend as the tide rose, and with the extra pulling power of the two larger tugs hired for the job the ship was pulled clear of the bank.
Some 12% of global trade uses the Suez Canal with part of the waterway widened to allow two-way traffic the section where Ever Given was grounded has a channel wide enough for only one vessel.
Charlotte Cook, head trade analyst at VesselsValue said that with some 50 ships transiting the canal on average the build up of delayed vessels has been rapid with some 257 vessels now at three points along the canal, at either end and in the intemediate stop at the Great Bitter Lake.
“This means that once Ever Given is moved, we could still be looking at a possible five to seven day wait for the build up to clear. 23% of vessels waiting are Containers, ranging from ULCVs down to Handy Containers, making up a total of 634,005 TEU,” said Cook.
Moreover, VesselsValue’s Predicted Destinations shows that there are 12 vessels en route to the Suez Canal that are expected to arrive before tomorrow.
“Depending on how quickly Ever Given can be moved, these vessels will be adding to the delay,” Cook pointed out.
However, the delays at the canal are only a part of the problem as ships will arrive at destination ports together, putting added pressure on ports to handle cargo as fast as possible.
“We will be keeping a very close eye on port congestion as we see an increase in cargo heading to Europe, especially at some of the main container ports in North West Europe. Our Trade flows data shows that over the past six months, Rotterdam, Felixstowe and Antwerp were the top top three ontainer destination ports for vessels crossing the Suez Canal, so we expect these ports to experience some of the highest levels of congestion,” explained Cook.
More details of the post-grounding operation will be reported as information is received.
News of the partial ‘freeing’ of the Ever Given spread fast on social media with numerous videos and photo’s of the vessel in its new position shared on Twitter.
🚨The Ever Given is floating🚨pic.twitter.com/GNzlzaom8q
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) March 29, 2021
