![]() ![]() Although mega-ships still make savings in terms of CO2 per tonne mile on the sea-leg of their journeys, “in the ports and hinterlands there is lots of additional expenditure necessary to cope with the higher peak demand,” he says. Last December, 1,900 “boxes” were lost in a single incident, including some containing dangerous goods, says Diane Gilpin, founder of the U.K.-based Smart Green Shipping Alliance.īut it is not only the possibility of accidents or loss of cargo that is cause for concern with massive container ships, says Jan Hoffman, chief of UNCTAD’s trade logistics branch. Some 3000 containers were lost in the North Pacific in the first two months of 2021. But the ship-which was reportedly involved in a separate accident attributed to high winds in 2019-carries a far more valuable cargo. The Ever Given is the same size as the largest bulk container ships that transport commodities like iron ore. Data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) shows that the average size of the largest container ship that ports manage has more than doubled over the past 15 years. Insurers were already wary of the risks posed by mega-ships carrying expensive cargo, experts say. The question of whether Ever Given-and container ships of similar magnitude-have a propensity to lose control during strong winds is likely to attract further scrutiny. But a longer-term impediment to transit through the canal could have reversed that trend. The Suez Canal began to gain market share from the Panama Canal as manufacturing centers gradually moved south from northeast Asia to southern China and Southeast Asia. But for container ships traveling between Asia and the U.S. As early as last Thursday, some large ships had begun to divert away from Suez and towards the African cape, even though that route can take an additional two weeks. There would have been reputational concerns too. The canal is a vital source of foreign revenue and its blockage was costing some $14-$15 million a day, SCA’s chairman Rabie said. The war-torn country where some 80% of the population lives in poverty is already suffering from fuel shortages, and the government of dictator Bashar al-Assad has already raised fuel prices three times this year, the AP reports.įor Egypt, the Ever Given’s refloating must have come as a relief. Over the weekend, Syria’s oil ministry announced that it had begun rationing the distribution of fuel in the country amid concerns that oil shipments could be delayed. The most vulnerable were already feeling the pinch. Still, the costs would have been considerable: about 12% of global trade passes through the Suez Canal. It’s difficult to determine because delays affect the different goods in different ways. How much did the blockage end up costing? “Weather factors were not the main reasons for the ship’s grounding,” he said, and “technical or human errors” may have played a role in the accident. Evergreen Marine, its operator, said the same: that it “was suspected of being hit by a sudden strong wind.” Meanwhile, vessel management firm Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement said Thursday that initial investigations ruled out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding.īut on Saturday, the chairman of the SCA Osama Rabie offered a contradictory version of events. Initial reports from the SCA stated that Ever Given lost control amid strong winds and sandstorms. “I am excited to announce that our team of experts, working in close collaboration with the Suez Canal Authority, successfully refloated the Ever Given …thereby making free passage through the Suez Canal possible again.” How did the ship get stuck in the first place? “We pulled it off!” Berdowski said in a later statement. But later that day, he confirmed the operation had been a success. “Don’t cheer too soon,” Boskalis CEO Peter Berdowski cautioned amid celebrations as the Ever Given was partially refloated on Monday morning, warning that the hardest part was still to come. Dutch dredging and heavy-lift firm Boskalis dispatched a team to assist the vessel as early as Wednesday, according to shipping publication Trade Winds. “Today the Egyptians succeeded in ending the crisis of the grounded ship in the Suez Canal, despite massive technical complications which engulfed this operation,” he wrote in an Arabic-language tweet.īut international teams were also involved. ![]() On Monday, Egypt’s authoritarian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi thanked “every loyal Egyptian who contributed” to refloating the ship. Both domestic and international recovery teams helped out. ![]()
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