“Suez ships could float at high tide today…worst case, the ship splits”

The Suez Canal, one of the world’s key trade routes, has been blocked by a super-sized container ship for the fifth day, and expectations are rising that a ship can rise on the 28th (local time). The’high tide’, the highest sea level, is approaching. However, as all conditions must be met, the possibility of failure is high. In the worst case, there is also a prospect that the ship may be split.

On the 27th, Director Osama Ravi of the Suez Canal Administration (SCA) replied in a statement to the question,’When will the Ever Given ferry again?

According to Russia’s Sputnik news agency, SCA is betting on a high tide rising on the morning of the 28th. From the 26th, SCA began dredging to remove the bow of the Evergiven that was stuck in the embankment. With an excavator, 20,000 tons of dirt and sand were dug around the bow, and about 9000 tons of water was removed to reduce the weight of the ship. Additional tugboats will be deployed this weekend to pull the Evergiven. When the water begins to fill at high tide, the tugboat is pushing and pulling the boat to float.

Dutch Smit Salvage, who was in charge of the rescue operation of the Evergiven, also expects to be able to float the ship if the high tide overlaps during the dredging operation. As expected, it is reported that it is possible to pull the Evergiven into the canal early next week. In particular, Sunmi explained that there is a possibility that the ship may move because she is not completely in the mud.

However, the challenge is that all tasks for the boat to rise, such as tugboat, boat weight, and high tide, must be carried out exactly as planned. Chief Ravi was also concerned about that. “I have a hard time working because of the strong tides and wind,” he said. Once the boat moves, I will work without stopping.”

There was also a warning that if the boat was pulled forcibly, the boat could crack. Lawrence Brennan, a professor at Fordham University in New York, pointed out that the stern is floating on the ground. “This means that it can cause additional damage by putting pressure on the middle of the ship,” he said.

Therefore, SCA is not excluding’Plan C’. Plan C plans to remove thousands of containers from the ship and reduce the weight before floating it on the water. However, it is not easy to unload cargo in places where there are no port loading and unloading facilities. Containers full of cargo weigh about 30 tons and are stacked at a height of 60m. Ship rescue experts believe that it will take several weeks to restart the canal if Plan C is applied.

As accident handling is delayed, damage to international logistics is also increasing like a snowball. According to the Egyptian canal and trade service company’Lease Agency’, there are currently 276 ships tied up near the canal. Logistics of almost all raw materials and products such as auto parts and oil are already all-stopped.

Thousands of live animals on board ships were in danger of death. According to the British Guardian, there are up to 20 ships carrying live livestock among ships waiting to resume traffic near the canal.

It is estimated that most of these ships travel from Europe to the Middle East. Bloomberg reported that several of these ships were heading from Romania to Saudi Arabia, and are likely carrying live sheep. One official said the number is estimated to be 92,000.

The problem is that there is not enough feed and water for the animals left on the boat. Because of this, it was in danger of being in a situation where the local port was fed or forced to turn. European Commissioner Gabriel Faun of’Animal International’, an EU non-governmental organization, said, “Some of the ships carrying livestock are transporting feed and water within two days.”

Reporter Lee Min-jung [email protected]