“Always delivered” firmly in the Suez Canal: the salvage company refuses to leave the ship

Monday 29 March 2021

“Ever Giving” fixed on Suez Canal
Salviz company denies ship waiver

“Something is going on, that’s good news.” However, according to the disposal company, there can be no talk of the liberation of the freighter “Ever Given” in the Suez Canal. German Transport Minister Scheuer is also lowering expectations.

The Dutch salvage company stationed on the wrecked container ship “Ever Giving” has warned against premature cheers about the opening of the canal. “Ever Given” was only exposed backwards. “But the bow is still completely stuck,” said Peter Berdowski, head of the Bosaklis company on Dutch radio. “Something is going on, that’s good news,” he said. But it is not clear right now.

During the night, the stern was separated from the ground with the help of a heavy tug. This enabled the 400-meter-long ship to do 20 degrees. According to the Boskalis boss, the most difficult task is to isolate the bug. He is lying “like a whale on the beach”. The salver hopes to use another tug during the day to free the ship completely. This should not be successful, containers may have to be unloaded. According to the expert, this is very time consuming.

It still takes days to get back to normal

Federal Transport Minister Andreas Sheuer has yet to see a clear view of the state of the Suez Canal. The CSU politician said: “After a direct response from the site, the ship is not yet free.” The bow is still sitting on the sand. Another suction excavation, which should wash the sand under the bow, should arrive on Tuesday. Regarding the effort to free the ship from high tide during the day, the minister said: “We are currently analyzing the impact on logistics, particularly on supply chains, with so many affected ships.”

Even though the complete liberation of “ever giving” becomes successful today, it can still take several days for shipping traffic to return to normal, according to Egypt. After full recovery, the canal will immediately “operate 24 hours a day,” said Canal Authority (SCA) chief Osama Rabi. Nevertheless, it would still take “about three and a half days” until the ship traffic jam on the canal was resolved. “Ever Give” was found in a sandstorm last week and surrounded. The ship was then stuck across the narrow channel, in front of and behind more than 400 ships.