Pics: SCA dredges 17K cubic meters of sands around Ever Given’s bow

CAIRO – 26 March 2021:  Egyptian Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has dredged 17,000 cubic meters of sand and mud by Mashhour dredger around the grounded Ever Given ship’s bow, with rate of dredging reached about 87 percent, said SCA Chairperson Lieutenant General Osama Rabie, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority on Friday in a statement.

 

The Ever Given ship, 400 meters long, 59 meters wide, and with a capacity of 224,000 tons ran aground due to bad weather and sandstorm and wedged diagonally across the canal.

 

“Mashhour” started dredge working 100 meters away from the ship on Thursday, and it approached to 15 meters away from the ship, he said, adding that the dredging process started at a depth of 50 cm and now it reached 15 meters in depth.

 

“Dredging works are carried out in accordance with the highest standards of navigational safety via maintaining a safe and permitted distance about 10 meters away from the ship. We will not be able to dredge closer than this distance, but we will replace that with sand shakes that could take place,” he was quoted as saying.

 

 

Work of the pulling the ship to reflaot it will resume by tugs "Baraka 1" and "Izzat Adel," following the end of dredging work, SCA chief said, noting that the average of the total amount of sand that is being dredged is between 15,000  and 20,000 cubic meters.

 

Egyptian satellite channel Extra news reported that the ship has changed its location little a bit on Friday,

 

The Dutch Smit Salvage, a subsidiary of dredging and maritime services provider Boskalis, joined the SCA team to participate in the process of refloating the ship, praising the measures taken by the SCA.

 

The Dutch company SMIT is scheduled to provide technical advice to the authority, provided that the dealing with the crisis will be done through the authority's marine units.

 

 

The authority also added that it is in contact with the Japanese company (Shoei Kisen Kaisha, Ltd), owner of the Ever Given ship, to resolve the crisis.

 

Furthermore, the United States of American offered its assistance to contribute the refloating process, the authority spokesperson George Safwat said in a statement on Friday.

 

“In connection with the ongoing efforts to dislodge the container ship that ran aground during its passage through the Suez Canal, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) values the offer of the United States of America to contribute to these efforts, and looks forward to cooperating with the U.S. in this regard in appreciation of this good initiative which confirms the friendly relations and cooperation between the two countries,” he said.

 

‏ “The SCA expressed sincere gratitude for all the offers it received for assistance in this regard; while also highlighting the ongoing efforts towards re-floating the container ship, and affirming its keenness on ensuring regular global maritime traffic in the Suez Canal as soon as possible,” he continued.

 

Rabie stated previously that authorities mull giving compensations to ships that were subject to delay because of the waterway's blocking as a result of a stranded container ship.  In tandem, Japan's Shoei Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. owning the ship apologized for the situation confirming that no oil leakage or human losses have occurred.

 

Egypt is not obliged to pay compensations for ships delayed in the Suez Canal due to the suspension of sailing in the canal as a result of the stuck container ship MV EVERGREEN, according to Vice-admiral Mahmoud Metwally. He clarified to Egypt Today on Thursday that insurance companies are responsible for paying compensations for affected ships and not Egypt.

 

The Suez Canal was inaugurated in 1869 and a parallel extension was opened by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in 2015. Almost 19,000 ships passed through the canal in both directions in 2020.

 

Presidential Advisor for Suez Canal Projects Lieutenant General Mohab Mamish told AFP that the navigational traffic through the canal would resume in 48 to 72 hours maximum.

 

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagemen, the company that supervise the technical administration of the ship, announced in a statement on Thursday that the ship crew members are Indian nationals and they were onboard of the ship with two other Egyptian captains when the ship ran aground.

 

The suspension of the navigational traffic has forced several ships to change their ways. Greek flagged LNG tanker Maran Gas Andros, travelling from the US, has changed its course. Also, the HMM Dublin looked to be diverting to avoid the Suez Canal congestion, Marine Traffic reported in a tweet on Friday.