A huge ship of nearly 400 meters in length has been placed across the Suez Canal for four days. This “Eurasian artery”, one of the busiest canals, is rarely “jammed with ships”.
The Suez Canal is about 163 kilometers long, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, providing the shortest sea route between Asia and Europe, and about 12% of global trade needs to be completed through it.
How to “rescue” this huge ship, let the Egyptian Suez Canal Authority has been a brainstorm. So far, the disruption has prevented more than 200 ships from crossing along the canal, including more than 30 container ships. Data analysis says the canal blockade will cause losses of about $400 million per hour, or $10 billion a day, while ship owners and insurers may face claims totaling more than $100 million.
What is more worrying is that the butterfly effect has already appeared. If the ship is not “released” soon, it will affect prices, and there are even assessments that it will basically affect the price of anything you see in a store.
“Stuffed ships” cause significant increases in oil prices
As the Epidemic eases in some areas and global trade picks up, most companies are looking to replenish their inventories. At this busiest Time of the year, the Chang Chi was stranded. Fortunately, all crew members were safe.
On March 24, local time, the Egyptian Suez Canal Authority issued a statement saying that a heavy container ship named “Chang Chi” from China’s Yantian port to the Dutch port of Rotterdam, the road is suspected to be hit by sudden strong winds, resulting in the ship off the waterway, the bow facing northeast, stern facing southwest, about 45 degrees, stuck in the middle of the canal. The middle.
The cargo ship weighs 220,000 tons, is about 400 meters long and 59 meters wide, and has a capacity of 20,000 20-foot containers. It is registered in Panama and operated by Evergreen Group, a Taiwanese shipping company.
So far, the stranded giant ship has caused a four-day interruption of shipping in the canal waterway, preventing about 200 ships from transiting along the canal. The canal was suddenly cut off, bearing the brunt of the impact on oil prices. Egypt’s Financial Gazette reports that about 30 percent of the world’s oil that needs to be transported by sea goes through the Suez Canal to complete its transportation.
According to the British newspaper The Independent, oil industry analysts said that last year Europe needed to import 550,000 barrels of oil per day from countries east of Suez, 520,000 of which went through the canal.
There is no doubt that the blockage, which has blocked an important Crude Oil transport route, has caused oil prices to climb on the international market, with benchmark oil prices spiking by about 6 percent on Wednesday. There are growing concerns that oil is going to be stalled on the canal for weeks, potentially squeezing the supply of crude oil and refined products and thus putting pressure on the global supply chain.
Toilet paper, coffee and more may face shortages
In addition to oil prices, there are also prices of goods. In addition to affecting energy transportation, the blockage of ships will also affect electronics, household goods, Food and other materials that are closely related to everyone.
Today, because the ship is blocked in the road, European goods because they can not receive parts and raw materials from Asia was delayed manufacturing, and empty containers can not be returned to Asia to reload.
According to Business Insider (Business Insider) analysis, the canal blockade, will cause an hourly loss of about $ 400 million. Among them, containers filled with instant coffee is stuck in the road, is expected to soon affect the supply of coffee. Furniture is also hard to get rid of the impact, there are many customers began to respond, they ordered furniture delivery date has been delayed.
The analysis said that if the ship is not released soon, the supply of items will continue to be short, there is not enough cargo, the cost of everyday items will rise, and the corresponding prices will increase, “basically affecting the price of anything you see in the stores.
Bloomberg reports that because many regions around the world rely on the Suez Canal to transport everyday items like toilet paper, shipments of wood pulp carried on board can also be delayed, which can cause shortages of toilet paper in stores. Suzano, currently the world’s largest wood pulp manufacturer, warned in this regard that global cargo ship congestion may lead to disruptions in the supply of wood pulp, affecting the supply of toilet paper.
International Chamber of Shipping Secretary General Guy Platten said that not only the goods on the “Chang Chi” will be seriously delayed, other blocked hundreds of ships will also delay the arrival of goods. The damage to the global supply chain will be huge.
We call on the Egyptian authorities to do everything possible to reopen the canal as soon as possible, considering that important cargo, including vital medical equipment and personal protective equipment, is being transported on these vessels,” Platten said.
Germany-based insurance giant Allianz estimates that the Suez Canal blockade could cost global trade between $6 and $10 billion a week.
How to “rescue” this huge ship?
Ltd. has apologized for the incident and said that a professional rescue team consisting of Dutch and Japanese salvage companies will work with local authorities in an effort to help reset the ship.
Industry sources told Reuters that the shipowner and insurers may face claims totaling more than $100 million.
The most important thing right now is to hurry up and get the ship “off the shallow side”. A spokesman for the salvage company said the first step in the rescue was to examine the ship carefully to determine how deep it had wedged itself in the canal embankment. The Sydney Morning Herald said the front part of the boat was wedged about five meters into the canal wall, which was one of the main difficulties of the operation.
Eight tugs are currently working to refloat the boat, and excavators on the ground are removing sand from the canal side where it was wedged. There is also a specialized “dredge” that can move 2,000 cubic meters of mud per hour.
However, the combination of tugboat and dredger alone is not enough to solve the problem. The research team must also find a way to reduce the enormous weight of the ship. They may have to unload some of the ship’s cargo and also drain the fuel and ballast water, then try again to use the tug to propel the vessel.
At the same time, because there are multiple containers on board, the operation of using a crane to unload these containers will be extremely challenging, and the process may also cause damage or even throw the ship off balance.
The Egyptian government has reopened part of the old channel of the canal to divert some ships until sea traffic in the Suez Canal is fully restored.
According to the Suez Canal Authority, nearly 19,000 ships passed through the canal during 2020, an average of 51.5 per day. There are few options other than sea transport to move large volumes of goods from Asia to Europe. With the canal blocked, some ships will have to choose alternative routes across Africa, although the voyage will take about two weeks longer and freight costs will increase significantly.
Egyptian authorities tried to refloat the ship on Friday morning, but were unsuccessful. It is reported that the removal of the huge ship may take “days to weeks”.
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