Unlocking traffic through the Suez Canal, which was blocked by a grounded vessel, could take several weeks. Such an assessment of the situation was given by the Department of the Situation and Crisis Center of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“Egypt – traffic through the Suez Canal remains closed due to the accident on March 23, the container ship Ever Given, unlocking may take several weeks,” – said on the page of the department in Twitter…
On 23 March, in the south of the Suez Canal, the Panama-flagged container ship Ever Given ran aground, blocking the movement of more than 150 ships. The vessel was heading from China to the Dutch port of Rotterdam. The Japanese company Shohei Kisen, the ship’s operator, claims that strong winds were the cause of the accident. The company has already apologized for the current situation. The shipowner stressed that there were no leaks of oil products, none of the crew members was injured.
According to Aghvan Mikaelyan, member of the board of directors of the international audit and consulting network FinExpertiza, the long-term blocking of the Suez Canal will lead to disruption of trade chains, as well as large losses for companies.
The expert believes that the closure of the channel will primarily provoke an increase in oil prices, but this effect will not be long-term.
The incident in the Suez Canal really caused an increase in oil prices by 6% on March 24, but the very next day the price of black gold began to decline again – the price fell by 4%.
Leading QBF analyst Oleg Bogdanov also believes that the situation on the Suez Canal is temporary and will not have any long-term effect on the economies of various countries. In his opinion, only a few companies will suffer losses.
At the same time, according to Bloomberg, the incident has already inflated prices for sea freight several times. The agency notes that due to the accident, the delivery of goods and oil products worth more than $ 10 billion is delayed. At the same time, the cost of shipping a dry cargo container from China to Europe has already reached $ 8,000, which is four times more expensive than a year ago.
According to Natalya Milchakov, deputy head of the Alpari IAC, due to the current situation, some Russian manufacturers suffered financial losses, whose cargo with a total value of $ 160 million was stuck in the Suez Canal. the country as a whole.
On March 25, the Suez Canal administration announced that navigation would resume only after the vessel was raised. This process is hampered by the dimensions of the container ship, which is 400 meters long and 59 meters wide. On board there are more than 20 thousand heavy containers. Eight tugboats help to cope with the consequences, the largest of which is capable of tipping up to 160 tons. Previously, it was planned to pass 13 vessels located in the Port Said area through the canal, but this idea had to be abandoned.