Suez Canal chief on maritime status: 321 awaiting vessels; no exact time for refloating EVER GIVEN

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Sat, 27 Mar 2021 - 03:14 GMT

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Sat, 27 Mar 2021 - 03:14 GMT

Press conference on latest development on the efforts to refloat the EVER GIVEN vessel that ran aground in Suez Canal - Photo by Samar Samir/EgyptToday

Press conference on latest development on the efforts to refloat the EVER GIVEN vessel that ran aground in Suez Canal - Photo by Samar Samir/EgyptToday

SUEZ, Egypt – 27 March 2021: The number of the ships awaiting in the Suez Canal blocked by the EVER GIVEN vessel that ran aground since March 23 has reached 321 vessels, and that the authority is providing them all logistic services they need, announced Suez Canal Authority (SCA) Chief Lieutenant General Osama Rabei in a press conference Saturday in Port Fouad city.

 
The SCA held the press conference to announced the latest developments on the efforts to refloat the EVER GIVEN vessel that ran aground.The EVER GIVEN ship, 400 meters long and 59 meters wide, has 18,300 containers onboard with a capacity of 224,000 tons ran aground due to bad weather and sandstorm and wedged diagonally across the canal at 151km of the canal, where vessels pass through from both directions. Being stranded at this point, the ship resulted in the suspension of the international maritime trade through the canal since March 25, 2021.
 
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A map shows the traffic jam in the Suez Canal

 

 

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In his speech, Rabei clarified that the incident did not occur in the new shipping lane of the Suez Canal, but it took place in the southern entrance of the canal. “No ships stranded in the Suez Canal have changed their courses to other routes,” Rabie said, adding that he rules out any ships would change their courses in the future, explaining that the Suez Canal “is the shortest passage for the maritime navigational traffic in the world.”
 

The incident did not result in any injuries, deaths or pollution accidents, he said that the authority has put three action plans in dealing with the aground ship: firstly, it used the tugboats, then dredging using the authority’s dredgers and returning again to pulling maneuvers, and finally it would resort to plan C, which means offloading the containers from the ship.
He also assured that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is closely following up on the situation of the aground vessel on a daily basis.
 
The Suez Canal Chief added the sand storm and the bad weather could not be the main cause of the incident, adding that a human or technical error could be the reason but there will be investigation to know the exact reasons after refloating the ship.
 
“In such incidents, we ask the captain to keep and have all documents, videos and audios for the investigations,” he explained, adding that compensation will be considered later.

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“On Friday, there was an indication of success to refloat the ship but t has been stopped due to the low level of tidewater, but we cannot guarantee when exactly the refloating process would complete,” Rabie said.

 
EVER GIVEN vessel, according to Rabie, has passed through the canal before, clarifying that offloading the containers is the third scenario that could be conducted to refloat the ship, he continued that the Dutch company Smit, a subsidiary of Boskalis, praised the procedures that have been taken by the authority to refloat the ship.

 
“We cannot say that we have not been affected when it comes to the revenues because the other vessels already awaiting in the canal,” Rabie said, adding that offloading the containers is the third scenario that could be conducted to refloat the ship.
 
He also appreciated the offers of assistance for refloating the ship from several countries, especially from the United States of America, the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Japan and China, saying “It is likely that these offers will be subject to coordination in case we resorted to third scenario.”

 
A representative of the Dutch company team said that they could not set a specific time to know when exactly for refloating the ship, noting that the Dutch company has strong cooperation with the authority, which has been exemplified in the manufacturing Mohab Mamish Dredge, the biggest dredge in the Middle East and North African. 
 
The latest update on March 28, 2021.

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