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ISMAILIA, Egypt — The global economic troubles triggered by a giant container ship stuck in the Suez Canal worsened on Saturday with the blockage of more ships carrying billions of dollars of goods. But hopes also grew that favorable tidal conditions could help free the Ever Given as an American Navy team was expected to arrive this weekend to assist in the operations.
A total of 276 vessels — carrying crude oil, cars, livestock and other commodities — were stuck in a massive maritime traffic jam at both ends of the 120-mile waterway, as well as in the middle, according to Leth Agencies, the canal’s service provider.
Two days ago, the number was 156.
More than 100 more ships in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea were en route to the canal, said analysts, though a growing number of vessels were being diverted through the southern tip of Africa as concerns grew that refloating the Ever Given could take weeks.
The ship is currently wedged sideways in a single-lane stretch of the canal, roughly four miles north of the waterway’s southern entrance.
On Friday night, the ship’s Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen, injected a bit of hope by suggesting that tidal movements on Saturday looked favorable enough for another attempt to refloat the Ever Given. Yukito Higaki, the company’s president, told reporters in western Japan that the ongoing dredging of the banks and sea floor to refloat the ship could be assisted by a high tide, which would raise the water in the canal and potentially push the ship upward.
On Saturday morning, 10 tugs were still helping to free the vessel, said Leth Agencies, noting unconfirmed reports by Egyptian media outlets that the ship’s propeller and rudder had been released by the salvage operations, which includes a specialized suction dredger capable of shifting 70,600 cubic feet of sand every hour.
If the tides don’t help free the vessel, Shoei Kisen said in a statement Saturday that it would consider removing the containers to reduce the vessel’s weight.
Later Saturday, Hend Fathy Hussein, the spokeswoman for the Suez Canal Economic Zone, wrote in a Facebook post that the ship’s rudder had begun moving again.
”The locomotives are now full force and the ship is starting to operate its machines, but it hasn’t been floating yet.” she said.
Lt. Gen. Osama Rabei, the head of Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority said in a statement late Friday night that the “complex technical process,” could require “multiple attempts” to free the Ever Given.
The statement came hours after the authority welcomed the assistance from the United States to reopen the canal. “We have equipment and capacity that most countries don’t have and we’re seeing what we can do and what help we can be,” President Biden told reporters. The U.S. Navy plans to send a team of dredging experts to the canal to assess the problem as early as this weekend, CNN reported, citing Pentagon sources.
It remained unclear how the Ever Given, which was heading to the Netherlands, got grounded. Initial reports suggested strong winds during a dust storm could have pushed the vessel into the banks, according to the Suez Canal Authority and Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, which is responsible for managing the ship’s crew and maintenance.
Bernhard Schulte said in a statement there have been no reports of “pollution or cargo damage and initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding.” The company said that two more tugboats were scheduled to arrive on Sunday to assist in the refloating of the ship.
There are two canal pilots aboard to guide the ship through the canal. The 25 crew — all Indian nationals — were safe and accounted for and remained onboard, “working closely with all parties involved to refloat the vessel,” the company said.
On Saturday, more shipping companies appeared to be losing confidence that the canal would get unblocked soon.
“Vessel-tracking data shows evidence that container lines are starting to take the long routes around southern Africa on the backhaul to Asia, rather than wait for the Suez Canal to reopen,” Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a maritime analysis firm, said in a tweet.
The list included the Ever Given’s sister ship, the Ever Greet, which was traveling from Malaysia to Europe and was diverted by either its Japanese owner or its Taiwan-based operating firm toward the Cape of Good Hope, according to satellite data.
The unprecedented bottlenect at or near the canal could strain global supply chains that are already stressed by the coronavirus pandemic.
On top of the need to shuttle raw materials to industrial manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies, shipping firms are grappling with extraordinary demand for consumer products, which has created a scarcity of empty containers.
The containers aboard many of the ships, with goods mostly from China, are destined for consumers in the United States and northern Europe.
The Suez Canal, a chokepoint of history
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