Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ordered the unloading of the container ship Ever Given, which ran aground and blocked the Suez Canal. This was announced on Sunday, March 28, by the Al Arabiya TV channel with reference to the head of the administration of the channel, Osama Rabia.
“We are working around the clock to move the ship in two ways – towing and dredging. <...> We are preparing for the third scenario – reducing the cargo on the ship. The third scenario is very difficult and will take a long time, ”he said.
At present, the channel’s specialists, together with experts from the Dutch company Smit Salvage, are assessing how much the ship needs to be unloaded in order to solve the problem. Rabia noted that the process is laborious and can take a long time.
Nevertheless, the head of the administration of the water hub emphasized that the situation with the container ship has improved compared to previous days. The ship was moved four meters. 14 tugs are working at the scene of the incident.
Two of them – Alp Guard and Carlo Magno – were sent to the incident area earlier in the day. At the same time, on the eve, the bow of the ship was slightly moved. This happened after on the same day, a few hours earlier, the stuck container ship was first slightly moved after more than 20 thousand tons of soil was removed from the emergency site.
Panama-flagged container ship Ever Given ran aground south of the Suez Canal on 23 March, blocking traffic. The Japanese company Shohei Kisen, the ship’s operator, attributed the incident to strong winds.
Thus, on board the vessel there are more than 20 thousand heavy containers, which were transported from China to the Dutch port of Rotterdam. This is one of the largest vessels in its class: its length reaches 400 m, width – 59 m.