Part of the hull of the large container ship Evergiven, which was stranded on the Suez Canal, is buried on the bank of the canal on the 24th. Suez Canal = AP Yonhap News
The Suez Canal, a shortcut linking Europe and Asia, was blocked. The super-large container ship was aground. It is not known when it will be reopened. Ships that have to meet the delivery deadline are rolling only their feet. There are also concerns that the global supply chain, which has already been hit by the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), could be hit again.
Foreign media reported that the Evergiven ship in Panama, operated by Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen, was stranded on the Suez Canal and blocked the waterway for the third day. A super-large container ship with a length of 400m and a width of 50m, with a 20-foot container load capacity (2388TEU) obliquely blocks the 280m-wide canal, causing a major obstacle to international maritime logistics.
A strong wind blown near the canal is pointed out as the cause of the accident. Maritime law expert and former captain Jamyl Sayeg told the British Daily Guardian that “there is a possibility that it was off course by pushing a container loaded with strong winds.” However, he added, “It may be due to human error,” saying that no accidents occurred in ships operating on the same route at the same time.
The image of the Evergiven, unveiled on the 24th by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite company. It obliquely blocks the Suez Canal. AFP Yonhap News
First, the canal officials are focusing on pulling out the bow part that appears to have hit the embankment. Egypt’s Suez Canal Management Authority (SCA) said that eight tugs and excavators were pulled on one side and pushed on the other for the purpose of erecting the hull in the direction of the canal. However, the size of the ship in the accident is large, and some are stuck in the sandbar and are having difficulty moving.
Some point out that in order to bring the hull back to life, it is necessary to lift the loaded cargo. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that if the towing operation fails, it may be necessary to unload the container to lighten the weight of the ship. AFP news agency said that the canal traffic could be suspended for several weeks if the container unloading is undertaken.
If the Suez Canal is unavailable, ships will have to travel between Europe and Asia around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. The resulting distance loss reaches 9,000 km. It is about 40 times the total length of the Suez Canal, which is 200 km, and is about a quarter of the earth. The time required is 11 days, compared to 11 to 16 hours to travel through the Suez Canal. As the voyage gets longer, it cannot be ignored that fuel costs and labor costs increase.
The current location of Evergiven, a large container ship aground on the Suez Canal. Not only the northern Mediterranean entrance, but also the southern Red Sea entrance, and the Bitter Lake in the middle of the canal are filled with ships without moving. Vesselfinder capture
The bigger problem is the paralysis of the global supply chain. Peter Sand Baltic International Shipping Board (BIMCO) Senior Analyst told The Guardian, “In recent decades, we have been able to carry out timely shipments using offshore’conveyor belts’, but delays in container shipping could cause some production lines to be shut down.” said. Financial information provider Rangis Raja said, “Ship congestion can last for days or weeks and the schedules of the international market can in turn be affected.” Bloomberg News reported that as of the day, 185 ships were stagnant on both sides of the canal.
Already, international oil prices have soared. According to CNN on the 24th, the May delivery of Western Texas crude oil (WTI), which is the US standard oil price on the same day, at the New York Commercial Exchange (NYMEX), ended at $61.18, an increase of $3.42 (5.9%) per barrel from the battlefield. The delivery of Brent oil, which is an international standard oil price in May, also ended at 64.41 dollars, an increase of 3.62 dollars (6%) per barrel the day before. “The Suez blockade had a huge impact on the oil market,” Marshall Steves, an energy market analyst at IHS Markit, told Marketwatch.
Since the Suez Canal was closed in 1956 due to the Suez War after its completion, the canal has been closed at least six times until this aground. In particular, the closure continued for eight years from 1967, when the Third Middle East War broke out. However, it is known that this is the first time that a single vessel has been put into a state of suspension of traffic across the canal. Meanwhile, Evergiven was built by Imabari Shipbuilding in Japan in 2018 and is now owned by Shoei Shipbuilding in Japan. Taiwan Evergreen is using it by chartering.
Jinwook Kim reporter [email protected]
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