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| On the 26th (local time), the’Ever Given’, a super-large container ship shipped in Panama, is blocking the passage of the Suez Canal for the fourth day. © AFP=News1 © News1 Reporter Dongmyeong Woo |
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) of the United States reported on the 27th (local time) that as the demolition of the container line blocking the Suez Canal was prolonged, a global logistics disruption became inevitable.
Osama Ravi Suez, head of the Canal Management Administration, said on the day, “We moved the stern and rudder of a huge container ship blocking the canal, but it is not known when the salvage of the stranded ship will be finished.”
In particular, to reduce the load on the ship, the containers loaded on the ship must be removed, which could take several weeks, experts say.
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| Osama Ravi, Director of Suez Canal Administration, holds a press conference on the 27th (local time). © Reuters=News1 © News1 Reporter Park Hyung-ki |
“The ship removal team is considering ways to reduce the ship’s load capacity, such as using other ships and mobile cranes to unload containers,” Ravi said. However, he added, “I can’t tell now when this will be done.”
Experts fear that rescuers need to lighten the ship by removing fuel and water from the ship and removing about 18,000 containers by helicopter, so that the operation could take weeks.
Accordingly, global shipping companies are already changing routes. From Singapore to Rotterdam, for example, the distance can be greatly shortened via the Suez Canal, but it will take much more time to go through the Cape of Good Hope in the southern tip of Africa.
However, because the Suez Canal is blocked, world-class shipping companies are changing their route to cry and eat mustard. In fact, most Chinese shipping companies are operating container ships by changing routes.
This inevitably leads to an increase in logistics costs. Using the Suez route takes 34 days for a round trip, while using the Cape of Good Hope route takes 43 days.
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| The red line is the route to Suez, the yellow line is the route to the Cape of Good Hope-WSJ Capture |
Currently, the Suez Canal accounts for about 13% of the world’s maritime trade and 10% of offshore oil transportation, respectively.
Meanwhile, the super-large container ship’Ever Given’, which was leased by Taiwan’s shipping company Evergreen on the 23rd, was stranded on the Suez Canal in Egypt, blocking the canal until today on the 28th.