Hope for Suez ship as tide rises, but worries for sheep
March 28, 2021
Thousands of animals, most from Romania, have been caught up in the Suez Canal blockage. Authorities are optimistic that a high tide could help to refloat a freighter that has been wedged across the waterway for days.
Thousands of animals are stuck on ships impacted by the Suez Canal blockageImage: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/REUTERS
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Suez Canal authorities were optimistic that Sunday's high tide would help refloat the Ever Given freighter as animal advocates raised concerns for sheep stuck on some 20 livestock ships in the logjam.
Authorities have been working to free the giant vessel since Tuesday, when it ran aground in the canal and blocked the crucial shipping route in both directions.
Animals International announced that thousands of animals — mostly sheep on 13 vessels from Romania — were at risk of dying if the channel did not reopen in the "next 24 hours."
"We are sitting in front of a major tragedy," said Gabriel Paul of the nongovernmental group, forecasting that delayed livestock carriers, including vessels from Spain, could run out of water and fodder.
Romanian sheep were rescued from a cargo ship that capsized in the Black Sea in 2020Image: Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty Images
On Friday, Britain's Guardian newspaper cited the ship-tracking website Marine Traffic as identifying three livestock carriers "stuck at various points in the canal."
At both ends or headed for Suez were at least 20 such carriers, the Guardian reported. Animals International urged nations to call their respective livestock ships back.
On Thursday, Spain had given orders that no animal ships bound for Saudi Arabia and Jordan be loaded, the Guardian reported.
Romanian veterinary authorities said they had assurances from transport firms that their livestock ships had enough fodder and water "for the coming days."
Egypt's Agriculture Ministry was quoted by the state-run Al-Ahram website as reporting that veterinary teams had been sent to livestock stuck offshore.
Efforts are underway to dislodge the Ever Given freighter, which ran aground on TuesdayImage: Maxar Technologies/REUTERS
Dredging and tugging
Salvage teams alternated between dredging and tugging around the stranded Ever Given on Sunday, but sources said rocks under its bow complicated efforts.
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Suez Canal Authority chairman Osama Rabie said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi had ordered preparations to lighten the giant freighter, which has 18,300 containers on board.
Salvage experts, equipped with 12 tugs, were pinning hopes on a high tide to refloat the vessel, which is wedged diagonally and blocking the waterway to more than 300 ships waiting at both ends.
Shipping lines, however, had already decided to reroute other vessels around southern Africa's Cape of Good Hope, Lloyd's List editor Richard Meade said.
On Sunday, the French shipper CMS-CGM announced that two of its Asia-bound vessels were rerouted and it was considering air and rail alternatives for some clients.
Suez Canal: $10 billion in goods stuck in waterway
The container ship Ever Given has been blocking the Suez Canal for days. Economic fallout is already visible and it could take weeks — and require drastic measures — to free the waterway.
Image: Suez Canal Authority/dpa/picture alliance
Container ship still lodged in canal
Efforts to dislodge the Ever Given, a 400-meter (1,300-foot) container ship that has been blocking the Suez Canal in Egypt since Tuesday, are ongoing as excavators remove sand and mud from the ship's bow while tugboats try to move it. Japanese owner Shoei Kisen has asked for forgiveness and said the job was proving "extremely difficult."
Image: Suez Canal Authority/dpa/picture alliance
Could take weeks to refloat
Dislodging the ship is expected to take about a week, possibly longer, as news agency Bloomberg reported Friday. The Suez Canal Authority, which operates the waterway, has not provided an update on when the canal will be navigable once again. The container ship, which sails under Panamanian flag, is wedged diagonally across the vital transport link.
Image: Suez Canal Authority via Egyptian Cabinet Facebook Page/dpa/picture alliance
Hundreds of ships waiting
Economic fallout began as soon as the Ever Given ran aground, with the price of crude oil fluctuating wildly. At least 200 vessels are backed up at both ends of the canal — at Port Said on the Mediterranean and Suez on the Red Sea — as well as in the canal itself, according to Lloyd's List, a data analyst specializing in container traffic.
Image: Yan Liang/Xinhua/Zuma/picture alliance
Suez Canal (usually) saves ships time
The Suez Canal, which separates the continent of Africa from the Middle East and Asia, is one of the busiest trade routes in the world, handling about 12% of all world trade. The passage saves ships some 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles) of travel compared to the route around the southern tip of Africa.
Image: Cnes2021/AP/picture alliance
$10 billion in goods are blocked
In addition to oil, consumer goods such as clothing, furniture and auto parts are transported through the canal. Richard Meade of Lloyd's List wrote on Twitter that westbound traffic was estimated to be worth about $5.1 billion (€4.3 billion) a day. Eastbound traffic is worth some $4.5 billion. This means that about $10 billion worth of goods are now blocked.
Image: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/REUTERS
Russia, Saudi Arabia particularly affected
"Every port in western Europe will feel the effects," said a spokesman for the Dutch port of Rotterdam, the EU's largest. Russia and Saudi Arabia, which send the most oil through the canal, are likely to be particularly affected. According to analysts at Vortexa, India and China are the largest oil importers using the canal. The blockade is also likely to be costly for the German economy.
Image: Suez Canal Authority/REUTERS
Worst-case scenario: Sink the containers
The Ever Given is one of the largest cargo ships in the world. If it ends up not being possible to refloat the boat, part of its cargo may have to be destroyed. According to Bloomberg, that could mean removing containers from the ship and possibly sinking them.
Image: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/REUTERS
More than 50 ships a day
According to the Suez Canal Authority, 19,000 ships passed through the canal in 2020 — more than 50 a day. Container ships account for about 26% of all traffic on the canal, which is dominated by oil tankers. In 2019, a total of 600 million tons of goods were transported through the Egyptian waterway.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Shaker
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Billions in losses — daily
Though Egypt has lost $12-14 million (€11-12 million) in charges each day, the German insurer Allianz put the daily cost in global trade disruption at $6-10 billion.
The Suez Canal blockage was "the straw that breaks the global trade's back," Allianz reported in a study published Friday, referring to supply chains.
"First, suppliers' delivery times have lengthened since the start of the year and are now longer in Europe than during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic," according to the insurer.
Reuters reported that shipping charges for oil tankers had nearly doubled as carriers decided to reroute, adding two weeks to journeys and extra costs for propulsion fuel.
About 15% of world shipping traffic normally transits the 193-kilometer (120-mile) Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean and Red seas, linking Asia and Europe.
