The full moon and high tide seemed propitious for the operation but the new attempt to free the Ever Given, the container ship that has blocked the Suez Canal since Tuesday, failed: the water level proved insufficient. On the sixth day of paralysis, two other tugs arrived to participate in the work to free the gigantic boat: they are the Italian Charlemagne and the Dutch Guard Alp. Together with 14 others they will have to push the ship from 400 meters while the dredges continue to suck the sand and encrusted mud from under the boat, aground, in a diagonal position to obstruct the passage to 321 ships that, on both outlets of the artificial strait Egyptian, they are still forced to wait their turn. The president of the Authority that manages the Canal (Sca), Osama Rabie, admitted that it is not yet possible to indicate a date for the resumption of traffic.
What happened
News emerge on when it happened on Tuesday 23 March. The wind and the sandstorm, which would have reduced visibility in the Canal, were not the main reasons for the accident, according to Rabie, and it cannot be excluded that “a technical and human error may have contributed to the grounding”. The head of the authorities then explained how, unfortunately, the blockade occurred in the southern entrance of the older canal: “If the accident had occurred in the new canal, the one born from the 2015 expansion works, it would have been solved more easily”. Ever Given, with its 400 meters in length (equal to four football fields) and 59 in width, had already crossed the passage several times without difficulty.
The operations
If times are still uncertain, the rescue operations are proceeding tightly. Thanks to the work of excavators and dredgers, capable of removing thousands of cubic meters of sand, Ever Given’s rudder and propeller started working again and the stern moved slightly. Thus we moved on to the next phase, that linked to the displacement of the maritime giant entrusted to the action of 14 powerful tugs. The hope is still that of «not having to be forced to lighten the load», a maneuver that would lengthen the time but which would become inevitable if the current efforts did not bear the hoped-for results. The concerns of Egypt, again expressed by Rabie, are related to the possible loss of customers, some already headed to the Cape of Good Hope. “We do not want that to happen so, as soon as we have cleared the Canal, we will work 24 hours a day to help the ships that have been stranded”, estimating a loss of 12-14 million dollars a day for the African country. Then he thanked the United States, China, the United Arab Emirates and all the countries who offered their help in the rescue operations.
Animal hunger
Moreover, after five days of waiting, the first problems begin to surface even among the ships waiting in front of the Canal. At least twenty are used for livestock transport and the welfare of the animals could be jeopardized by the continuation of the interruption. “My biggest fear is that animals run out of food and water and get stuck on ships because they can’t be unloaded somewhere else for bureaucratic reasons,” said Gerit Weidinger, Animals International coordinator for Europe. , to the Guardian. “The risk – adds Weidinger – is that they can die of hunger, dehydration, injuries and the accumulation of waste that prevents them from lying down”. Not to mention that the crew “can’t even get rid of the bodies of animals that have died in the Suez Canal.” If the situation does not unblock “we could find ourselves in front of a possible biohazard time bomb for the animals, the crew and any other person involved”
The compensation issue
Too early to talk about the possible compensation and fines that could affect the Japanese owner of the Ever Given even if, the Suez authorities, let it be known that “they will be carried out in compliance with the law and consequent to the results of the investigations in progress”. The cargo ship is insured for 3.1 billion dollars, an enormous sum that could however prove insufficient to cover the requests that could come from the owners of the hundreds of boats that have remained stationary and from the owners of their respective cargoes. They reported it to the Wall Street Journal sources of the insurance program of Shoei Kisen Kaisha, the company that owns the ship. If the transit through the canal is not restored quickly, the US daily stresses, the domino effect will soon touch the recipients of supplies, from factories waiting for material for assembly lines to distributors who will not be able to fill some shelves. In a real storm that’s perfect for the insurance industry, shipowners of stranded ships could also soon claim damages for missed deliveries they had planned once the stranded cargoes were brought to their destination. Finally, many of the subjects involved will not only raise cash at Ever Given but, obviously, also with insurance companies through which they are protected from similar events. There is no conjecture about the bill to pay, therefore.
The effects for Italy
Looking at the Italian situation is Coldiretti who in his analysis states that all the main national food products packaged and transported by ship, from wine to extra virgin olive oil, are in difficulty. But the arrivals of the drums of almost 70 million kilos of Chinese tomato concentrate that landed in Italy last year are also blocked. “A delicate situation”, comments the confederation, “which comes precisely at a time of resumption of Made in Italy shipments to the Asian giant with a 19.4% growth in food exports in January 2021”.