Progress made moving a container ship blocking the Suez Canal should allow some traffic to resume today, while Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) said that it leased the vessel, but would refuse to pay if it remained stuck.
The MV Ever Given — a so-called “megaship” at 220,000 tonnes and 400m long — which ran aground in the southern part of the canal in Egypt, had been partially moved and is alongside the bank, said Ahmed Mekawy, deputy manager of the Suez Canal for GAC Group, a provider of port-agent services.
The vessel was soon expected to be refloated, Mekawy said, adding that the Suez Canal Authority would then work on resuming transit for all waiting ships.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The canal authority had yet to comment on whether the vessel had been moved.
Evergreen, which chartered Ever Given from Luster Maritime SA, was notified by the ship owner that the vessel deviated from its course due to suspected sudden strong wind and ran aground 6 nautical miles (11km) south of the estuary at 8am on Tuesday, it said in a statement yesterday.
Evergreen urged the ship owner to report the cause of the incident and set up a plan with the authorities to get the vessel out of trouble as soon as possible, it said.
Evergreen said that it rented the vessel under a time charter arrangement to add cargo capacity to its operations from East Asia to Europe, while the crew was appointed by the ship owner.
“We rent the vessel and decide which seaports it will go to for our sea cargo business. If the Ever Given is still aground and cannot operate normally, we will not pay the rent,” a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Whether Evergreen would seek compensation from the ship owner would depend on the cause of the incident, and it would make the decision after an investigation is completed, it added.
Luster Maritime, which is headquartered in Panama and a unit of Japan’s Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd, provides sea freight transportation services.
The incident left dozens of ships gridlocked as they attempted to transit between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.
Efforts to free the ship had so far proceeded faster than initial warnings that traffic could be choked off for days.
The 193km-long Suez Canal is among the most trafficked waterways in the world, used by tankers shipping crude from the Middle East to Europe and North America.
About 12 percent of global trade and 8 percent of liquefied natural gas pass through the canal, as do about 1 million barrels of oil per day.
The Ever Given was grounded early on Tuesday amid poor visibility caused by a dust storm and wind speeds that reached 40 knots, resulting in a “loss of the ability to steer the ship,” the canal authority said.
About 42 vessels either in the northbound convoy or arriving to transit the canal in that direction were waiting for the Ever Given to be refloated, Leth Agencies, one of the top providers of Suez Canal crossing services, said in a notice to clients.
The company said that it was sending a dredger to help free the ship.
About 64 vessels traveling southbound were also affected.
GAC said that 15 affected ships were waiting at anchorage.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
RSS