There is movement in container ship Ever Given, which has been blocking the Suez Canal since Tuesday. The back of the ship was pulled loose on Monday morning, but the head is still stuck in the clay. A first attempt to pull it loose at high tide is said to have failed.
International media reported with relief this morning that the ship was moving again. Maritime services provider Boskalis, involved in the dredging, nuanced that report on NOS Radio 1 News. It was only about pulling loose the stern, the easy part of the operation. Over the next few days, the head has to be pulled out of the clay layer.
An initial attempt was made in vain on Monday afternoon at high tide, Reuters reported, based on local sources. Strong winds pushed the ship back towards its original position. Still, Boskalis chief executive Peter Berdowski estimates the chances of the ship breaking loose today at 70 per cent.
If the pulling loose does not succeed, dredgers will try to spray water on the underside so that the ship is released from the clay layer. Possibly six hundred containers could be removed from the front of the ship, but Berdowski called that a "time-consuming job out there in the desert".
According to Bloomberg, the queue of waiting ships has now risen to 450, including container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers and gas carriers. The blockade is causing delays in the logistics chain, which is already strained by the corona pandemic. According to container shipping company Maersk, the impact will be felt for a long time. Retail chains such as Action, IKEA, Blokker and Zeeman expect to suffer, although they say they are not currently experiencing any supply problems.
