THE salvage firm hired to free the Ever Given box ship from the banks of the Suez Canal says the refloating of the 20,000 TEU vessel to allow other vessels to transit the waterway has been successful and that the backlog of ships could potentially be cleared by the end of the week, reports IHS Media.
The refloating will allow ocean carriers to start moving vessels that are already at anchorage at the northern and southern ends of the canal to start moving and halt further diversions along the African cape.
However, the incident means that schedule reliability will remain out of whack for weeks until all the vessels affected by the blockage can resume regular transits.
Marine engineering and project firm Boskalis said that its team from subsidiary Smit Salvage and the Suez Canal Authority refloated the ship at about 3 pm local time on Tuesday.
Boskalis said the refloating effort required the deployment of two "powerful seagoing tugs" in addition to the 11 tugs operated by the Suez Canal Authority. Along with the tugs, some 103,000 square feet of sand was removed.
Boskalis CEO Peter Berdowski said in a statement: "I am excited to announce that our team of experts, working in close collaboration with the Suez Canal Authority, successfully refloated the Ever Given, thereby making free passage through the Suez Canal possible again."
Leth Agencies, the Suez's main shipping agency, also confirmed that the Evergreen-operated ship is now under tow to an anchorage at a midpoint in the canal for further inspection.
Evergreen Marine, the ship's operator, said once the inspection has been completed, it will determine whether the Ever Given can resume its scheduled service to Rotterdam, where it was expected to arrive on March 31, according to project44's Ocean Insights data.
Evergreen said in a statement: "We are most grateful to the Suez Canal Authority and all the concerned parties for their assistance and support through this difficult and unfortunate situation.
"We would also like to express our deepest appreciation to the crew who remain steadfast in their posts as well as the salvage experts and dredging team for their professionalism and relentless efforts over the past 6 days toward securing this outcome."
According to Leth Agencies the number of vessels currently waiting to transit the canal reached 367 as of Monday. That included 96 container ships, up from 53 container ships reported earlier.
Hapag-Lloyd said in a statement that the damaged area of the canal where the 224,000-tonne container ship ran aground will be inspected and repaired if necessary. The Hamburg-based ocean carrier said it expected transits to start late Tuesday, adding that the current backlog of ships waiting to move through the canal could be cleared within four days.
Hapag-Lloyd said it has nine ships at Suez anchorages currently waiting to transit. It said it will not reroute any more vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, aside from the six it had already sent the long way around Africa as of Friday.
Even with the opening, however, Hapag-Lloyd said it wasn't sure when vessels would be able to catch back up to their regular schedules.
"We currently do not know the exact ETA of our affected vessels, but we will do our utmost to optimise the rotations in order to minimise potential bottlenecks at ports and terminals," the carrier said.
Maersk said in a customer update prior to the refloating that it has a total of 32 vessels currently stuck in the canal or at one of the anchorages. It had to reroute 15 vessels around the African cape.
Maersk said clearing the Suez backlog could take up to six days or more. It warned that the resulting vessel bunching as ships discharge their cargo as quickly as possible to resume a regular schedule means ports can expect further congestion.
"Even when the canal gets reopened, the ripple effects on global capacity and equipment are significant and the blockage has already triggered a series of further disruptions and backlogs in global shipping that could take weeks, possibly months, to unravel," Maersk said on Monday.
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Port of NY-NJ posts record February container throughput
THE Port of New York and New Jersey posted its strongest container throughput on record for the month of February despite a drop in total volumes to a seven-month low, reports London's S&P Global Platts.
The port handled 625,120 TEU in February, an increase of 7.9 per cent year on year, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) said.
Although the port continued its record-breaking throughput trend amid a sustained surge in demand for Asian imports, monthly volumes were the lowest since July 2020 as the shortened month coincided with the Lunar New Year holidays in Asia, which reduced export cargo flows.
Total import volumes at New York and New Jersey rose by 11.2 per cent year on year to 334,176 TEU, but export volumes from the port fell by 16.8 to 232,289 TEU as shipping lines prioritised the swift return of empty containers to Asia over US export cargoes.
Auto volumes at the port proved resilient in February with 41,580 units handled, a 10.6 per cent increase from the same month in 2020.
The Port of New York and New Jersey was the third busiest container port in North America in 2020 and the busiest on the East Coast, with a total throughput of 7.59 million TEU in 2020.
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MSC giant box ship badly damaged in allision at Port of Istanbul
MEDITERRANEAN Shipping Company's (MSC) 19,000 TEU box ship MSC Tina allided with a pier at the Port of Istanbul leaving a deep gash down the side of her hull.
The impact badly damaged the vessel and the pier at Istanbul's Marport complex, according to Turkey's General Directorate of Maritime Affairs. Photos from the scene show a long, neat gash in the hull several feet high, reports The Maritime Executive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
No injuries or pollution were reported, and the vessel has been anchored just off the port for an inspection. The cause of the incident is under investigation.
The 2017-built MSC Tina is deployed on MSC's TC3 rotation, serving Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Singapore, Port Said, Piraeus, Izmit and Istanbul. The allision is a new scheduling setback for MSC, which - like all container lines on the main Asia-Europe trunk route - suffered severe operational setbacks from the Suez Canal shutdown.
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Wilhelmsen to spend US$500m on new renewable businesses
NORWAY's major shipping brand Wilhelmsen is having a major change of focus, going all out for renewables, reports Singapore's Splash 247.
Thomas Wilhelmsen, group CEO at Wilhelmsen, said in a statement: "Our strategy is clear, we will contribute to the energy infrastructure transition and be an active player in decarbonisation. In addition to accelerating the transition of our existing businesses, we will invest in new businesses with the long-term aim of shifting from mainly oil and gas related activities to mainly activities related to the renewable sector.
"We foresee up to US$500 million in new business investments related to the renewable segments over the next five years and expect to invest on our own, together with partners, and/or utilise the capital market."
The new segment, which has been named New Energy, will be headed up by Jan Eyvin Wang, currently senior vice president for strategic investments.
The establishment on the New Energy segment is a continuation of several years of exploring renewable opportunities for the Scandinavian company. This includes the ongoing transformation of NorSea, the establishment of offshore wind activities through NorSea Wind, Edda Wind, and Elevon, autonomous shipping through Massterly, decarbonisation solutions through RaaLabs, Ivaldi, the partnership with thyssenkrupp, and the vessel concept Topeka, a hydrogen-powered ship design.
On why a segment-specific structure is necessary now, Wilhelmsen said: "In the next few decades, we will see a tremendous shift from oil and gas to renewable energy. The speed of change and investments needed requires a dedicated focus to capitalise on the opportunities which will arise. We will obviously build on our existing competencies, in-depth knowledge of the maritime industry, and what differentiates us from many players in the market, while exploring new opportunities and new partnerships."
Under the group reorganisation, Wilhemsen's maritime services segment, to be headed by Bjorge Grimholt, currently president of Wilhelmsen Ships Service, is expected to explore organic and horizontal growth of marine products, ship agency, and ship management over the next three to five years.
The final segment - strategic and financial investments - includes shareholdings in Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Treasure ASA/Hyundai Glovis, Qube and the group's liquidity portfolio.
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South Korea cargo volume down 2.3pc in February
SOUTH Korea's seaport cargo volume declined 2.3 per cent in February year on year to 118 million tonnes, reports Yonhap News.
Outbound shipments of automobiles increased 47 per cent to US$3.5 billion. Container cargo processed dropped 0.9 per cent to reach 2.21 million TEU.
The country's leadership declared it was significant that the number of containers processed only fell by a small margin in February since the month had fewer working days compared to the previous year.
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Adani to own, operate 51pc of Colombo's West Container Terminal.
INDIA's Adani Group has extended its port-terminal investment ambitions to Sri Lanka with an agreement to build and operate Colombo's West Container Terminal (WCT), a third facility under the South Harbour development programme, reports IHS Media.
Ahmedabad-based Adani, 524 kilometres north of Mumbai, will hold a 51 per cent controlling interest in the new terminal venture, with the remainder split between its local partner John Keells Holdings and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) in a yet-to-be-announced structure.
The deal is said to be a government-to-government deal after a May 2019 cooperation pact offering New Delhi the right to manage Colombo's long-stalled East Container Terminal hit a roadblock over labour pushback against privatisation.
Under a 35-year operating concession, WCT is designed to provide a total quay length of 1,400 metres, a 20-metre alongside draft, and a capacity of 3.5 million TEU annually, which Adani noted will be a prime attraction for ultra-large container ship operators.
"The network impact of this partnership is significant and expected to be mutually benefited from the string of seven container terminals across its 12 ports that Adani operates along the Indian coastline, handling an annual volume of over 6 million TEU," the company said in a statement.
Adani already commands 30 per cent of India's total port capacity, with Mundra Port being its top bet on the container side. Powered by strategic terminal partnerships with CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), Mundra has seen strong transshipment gains in recent years, which in 2020 stood at 1.14 million TEU, versus some 870,000 TEU in 2019.
Adani's entry into Colombo comes at a time when India is working to tighten foreign transshipping trends that it believes act as a drag on efforts to lower logistics costs. The enactment of a liberalized cabotage policy in May 2018 aimed at encouraging more direct port calls mirrors that intent. |
