In the Suez Canal in Egypt, a large container ship owned by a company in Ehime Prefecture ran aground, and Egyptian authorities announced that work had been completed to remove the surrounding sediment to move the container ship.
After that, he plans to tow a container ship with a tugboat and aim for reefing.
To move it, the direction of the wind and the flow of the tide
On the 23rd, a large container ship owned by Shoei Kisen in Ehime Prefecture and operated by a Taiwanese company stranded on the Suez Canal in Egypt, a strategic point for maritime transportation connecting Asia and Europe, and the canal is blocked. I will.
The Suez Canal Authority in Egypt, which manages the canal, was working to remove the surrounding sediment to move the container ship on the shallow water, but announced on the night of the 26th that the work was completed.
He said that he started towing ships with nine large tugboats, but explained that in order to move container ships, it is also necessary to meet conditions such as wind direction and tide flow.
276 ships on standby Daily increase
According to the company that handles the passage of the Suez Canal, the number of vessels waiting in and around the canal has risen to 276 so far, and is increasing at a pace of about 50 vessels a day.
Some vessels have given up on the canal and switched to a route that runs through the southern side of the African continent, but it takes significantly longer than it does through the canal, which has a greater impact on logistics.
The Suez Canal Authority will hold a press conference for the first time after the grounding accident on the afternoon of the 27th local time and the night of the 27th Japan time, and the focus will be on the future outlook.
Expert “The risk increased due to the increase in size of the ship”
The container ship that ran aground this time is 400 meters long, 59 meters wide, and has a total ton of about 220,000 tons, making it one of the largest in the world.
An expert at Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty, a German insurance giant that deals in corporate insurance with shipping companies as its customers, said on its official website that large container ships have rapidly advanced in recent years. He points out that the risk of accidents has increased further due to the change.
According to this expert, the load capacity of container ships has increased about 15 times from about 50 years ago, and as the volume of trade handled increases worldwide, the size of ships is rapidly increasing.
This has raised concerns in the salvage industry, pointing out that "moving a giant vessel in a confined space like the Suez Canal will be a difficult challenge."
On top of that, regarding future work, "The best scenario is to move on a tugboat at high tide, but if that is not possible, lightening the ship is the only option. Rescue activities will take longer. It will cost a lot of money. "