Suez Canal crisis: hopes grow high tide will help free Ever Given
- Dredgers working to dislodge the stranded vessel have so far shifted 27,000 cubic metres of sand to a depth of 18 metres
- Experts are now pinning their hopes on a Sunday evening high tide to help dislodge the craft
Hope rose on Sunday that salvage efforts could free a mammoth container ship that has blocked the Suez Canal for six days, crippling international trade and costing the global economy billions.
As extra boats head to help salvage efforts, experts are pinning hopes on a Sunday evening high tide to help dislodge the craft.
Two tugboats – the Italian-flagged Carlo Magno and the Dutch-flagged Alp Guard – were steaming towards the vital waterway to help salvage operations, the MarineTraffic and VesselFinder ship-tracking websites said Sunday.
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The MV Ever Given, which is longer than four football fields and towers over nearby palm trees and fields, has been wedged diagonally across the canal since Tuesday, blocking it in both directions.
The crisis has forced companies to choose between waiting or diverting vessels around Africa, adding 9,000 kilometres (5,500 miles) and over a week to the trip between Asia and Europe, as well as vastly increased fuel costs.
Richard Meade, an editor at shipping data and news company Lloyd’s List, said sources “close to the salvage operation” had told him optimism was rising “and they were hoping that the vessel could be moved within the next 24-48 hours”.
Each day of the blockade could be costing global trade some US$6-10 billion, according to a study published Friday by German insurer Allianz. That translates to some 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points of annual trade growth each week.