The massive cargo ship that wedged itself in the Suez Canal could take weeks to move as experts predict the mishap is costing $9.6 billion per day in lost cargo traffic.
“We can’t exclude it might take weeks, depending on the situation,” said Peter Berdowski, CEO of Dutch company Boskalis, which is assisting in efforts to move the ship, named Ever Given, that became lodged horizontally in the Egyptian waterway on Tuesday.
A multitude of tugboats have attempted to dislodge the vessel that weighs 200,000 tons and measures over 1,300 feet in length, but the desperate attempts have not yet succeeded. Those with knowledge of the matter have predicted the obstruction has resulted in $9.6 billion in losses per day as the area faces a backlog of 185 ships waiting to cross the waterway. Roughly 50 boats use the canal every day.
SUEZ CANAL BLOCKED AFTER MASSIVE CONTAINER SHIP GETS STUCK
Shoei Kisen, the Japanese owner of the container ship in question, apologized to the public on Wednesday and said that moving the vessel has been “extremely difficult.”
“We sincere apologize for causing a great deal of concern,” the company wrote in a statement, faulting “stormy weather” for the incident.
The Ever Given is carrying thousands of containers headed for Rotterdam, Netherlands, from the Yantian district in China. A total of 25 crew members, all of whom are of Indian descent, are aboard the ship, and none have been injured.
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Vessel Finder reported that the Ever Given traveled through Taipei and Malaysia and was planning to arrive in the Netherlands on March 31. With the ship still blocking the waterway, the arrival time will likely be delayed for the vessel, along with dozens of other ships that have been blocked.
