The threat of supply chain disruption is growing with every hour a stuck ship spends on the Suez Canal.
This 400m long and 59m wide Evergreen-operated container ship has been wedged sideways across the canal since Tuesday. Strong winds are believed to have cause the 20000 TEU Ever Given vessel to get stuck, however efforts to free the ship, which has a 15.7m draught have been in vain so far.
“After 48 hours of proactive efforts to re-float Ever Given, the time chartered vessel’s grounding situation has not been resolved,” said Evergreen in a statement.
Rotterdam-bound
Owned by Japan-based Shoei Kisen Kaisha, the Panama-flagged vessel was on its way to the Port of Rotterdam when the incident occurred. Now, a large number of ships due to travel through the Canal have been forcibly delayed.
According to The Brussels Times, Annick De Ridder (N-VA), Antwerp city councillor for port affairs, suggested the Port of Antwerp was braced for impact. “Once the problems have been resolved, those ships will all arrive at the Western European ports with a delay. That will also lead to congestion here.
“Moreover, it also has an impact on the return of empty containers to Asia. So there will probably be an impact, but it is too early to say how big it will be.”
Rescue work ongoing
Evergreen stated the shipowner has appointed two maritime professional rescue teams from the Netherlands (Smit Salvage) and Japan (Nippon Salvage) to attend the ship. These teams will be working with the Captain and the Suez Canal Authority to design a more effective plan for refloating the vessel as soon as possible.
Evergreen Line will continue to coordinate with the shipowner and Suez Canal Authority to deal with the situation with the utmost urgency, ensuring the resumption of the voyage as soon as possible and to mitigate the effects of the incident.
As the vessel is chartered, the responsibility for the expense incurred in the recovery operation; third party liability and the cost of repair (if any) is the owners, said Evergreen.
