Category Archives: Suez canal

More than half of UK retailers affected by Houthi disruption, survey shows

Posted on by

Costs are escalating amid delays, according to British Chambers of Commerce research that shows UK exporters have also been hit

More than half of UK retailers and exporters have been affected by the disruption to Red Sea trade from Houthi rebel attacks on cargo ships, research by a leading business lobby group suggests.

The price of shipping a container from Asia to Europe has gone up by as much as 300% for some businesses, while logistical delays have added up to three to four weeks to delivery times, according to the survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).

Continue reading...

More than 100 container ships rerouted from Suez canal to avoid Houthi attacks

Posted on by

Cape of Good Hope diversion adds 6,000 nautical miles and three or four weeks to delivery times and has driven up oil prices

More than 100 container ships have been rerouted around southern Africa to avoid the Suez canal, in a sign of the disruption to global trade caused by Houthi rebels attacking vessels on the western coast of Yemen.

The shipping company Kuehne and Nagel said it had identified 103 ships that had already changed course, with more expected to go around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.

Continue reading...

BP halts oil and gas shipments through Red Sea after rebel attacks

Posted on by

Energy company follows decisions by five big shipping firms as Houthi militants step up attacks on vessels

BP has halted all shipments of oil and gas through the Red Sea after an increase in the number of attacks on cargo ships by Houthi militants in Yemen, including a strike on a Norwegian-owned vessel.

The British oil company said on Tuesday that it had paused shipping in the region indefinitely, citing a “deteriorating security situation” amid tensions in the Middle East.

Continue reading...

Norwegian cargo ship refloated after running aground in Suez canal

Posted on by

Egyptian authority says vessel was towed away for repairs after briefly disrupting traffic in vital waterway

A Norwegian-owned cargo ship briefly ran aground in the Suez canal before being refloated and towed away, according to the Egyptian authority running the vital waterway.

The vessel, which had experienced a sudden technical failure, was being removed by tugboats for repairs, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chief, Osama Rabie, said on Monday. Maritime traffic was normal, he added.

Continue reading...

Suez Canal briefly blocked again after another ship, Affinity V, becomes stuck

Posted on by

Tanker blocked canal for hours, close to where Ever Given container ship became stuck, disrupting supply chains for a week

A tanker getting stuck used to be more the domain of niche business news, but that was before the Ever Given, so all eyes were soon on the Affinity V tanker’s plight in the Suez Canal.

On Wednesday, the 250-metre long Affinity V tanker was bound for Saudi Arabia when it ran aground close to the same spot in the narrow southern section of the canal in Egypt where the Ever Given container ship caused a week-long halt to traffic in March 2021, dominating global headlines and paralysing supply chains.

Continue reading...

Container ship Ever Given back in Suez canal for return trip

Posted on by

Vessel that caused global disruption when it got stuck is heading for the Red Sea again

In a rematch of the struggle that dominated global headlines earlier this year, the 400-metre, 220,000 tonne container ship that became lodged in the Suez canal for nearly a week, disrupting trade on a global scale, is having another go.

Several weeks after finally docking at the UK port of Felixstowe – after a months-long negotiation over who should bear the costs of blocking the shipping lane for six days in March – the vessel returned to Port Said, Egypt, on Thursday night.

Continue reading...

Ever Given, the ship that blocked the Suez canal, to be released after settlement agreed

Posted on by

The Suez Canal Authority has held the Ever Given and its crew in a lake between two stretches of the waterway since it was dislodged on 29 March

The owners and insurers of the Ever Given container ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March have announced that a formal settlement had been agreed in a compensation dispute, and the canal authority said the vessel would be allowed to sail on 7 July.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has held the giant ship and its crew in a lake between two stretches of the waterway since it was dislodged on 29 March, amid a dispute over a demand for compensation by the SCA.

Continue reading...

From bamboo to barbecues: the cargo caught up in Ever Given legal battle

Posted on by

Ship cannot sail out of Egyptian waters as authorities detain crew and cargo until owners pay for blockages

Lemons, bamboo shoots and tofu sit in the sweltering heat, alongside goods from Lenovo, Ikea, Dixons Carphone and dozens of other brands – including barbecues, sun loungers, swimwear, lawnmowers and camping equipment – that will arrive at their intended destinations long after summer ends.

Since the successful operation in late March to dislodge the 220,000-ton Ever Given from the Suez canal, where it was stuck for six days, the cargo ship has been grounded again – this time by a fierce legal battle between the ship’s owners, insurance companies, and the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

Continue reading...

Ever Given owner says Suez canal authority at fault ship’s grounding

Posted on by

Lawyers for Shoei Kisen tell court container ship was wrongly allowed to enter waterway amid bad weather

The owner of a container ship that blocked the Suez canal in March says the canal authority was at fault over its grounding as it disputes the vessel’s detention and a compensation claim, a lawyer representing the owner said on Saturday.

The Ever Given, one of the world’s largest container ships, became jammed across the canal in high winds on 23 March, and remained grounded for six days, blocking traffic in both directions and disrupting global trade.

Continue reading...

Suez Canal starts work to extend double lane after Ever Given grounding

Posted on by

Grounding of the container ship in a southern section of the canal in March delayed the passage of hundreds of vessels through the waterway

Egypt has started dredging work to extend a second lane that allows for two-way traffic in a southern section of the canal near to where a giant container ship got stuck for six days in March.

The state-owned Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced last week that it was planning to extend a second canal lane that opened in 2015 by 10km to make it 82km long, and would widen and deepen a single lane stretch at the southern end of the canal.

Continue reading...

Ever Given crew fear joining ranks of seafarers stranded on ships for years

Posted on by

Suez vessel’s crew said to be ‘relaxed but apprehensive’, while 50 miles away a cautionary tale plays out on another ship

For two years Mohammad Aisha has been the lone resident of an abandoned container ship marooned off Egypt in the Gulf of Suez. If he needs to charge his phone, get drinking water or buy food, he has to row to shore, although he can only stay for two hours at most as the area is a restricted military zone. According to one doctor who examined him, the malnourished sailor has started to exhibit similar symptoms to prisoners held in poor conditions.

Aisha has been the custodian of the 4,000-tonne MV Aman, trapped onboard as a prolonged legal battle to sell the vessel and pay the crew plays out thousands of miles away. Less than 50 miles north, the crew of the Ever Given, now immersed in its own legal struggles, are hoping to avoid anything close to the same fate. On Sunday, representatives from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), an umbrella union that represents seafarers, boarded the ship to check on the crew’s wellbeing.

Continue reading...

Suez canal blockage: last of the stranded ships pass through waterway

Posted on by

Canal authority says investigation into the cause of Ever Given grounding is nearing completion

The last ships stranded by the grounding of a giant container vessel in the Suez canal passed through the waterway on Saturday, according to the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

More than 400 vessels were stranded in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea when the giant container ship Ever Given became wedged across the vital waterway on 23 March. The ship was freed on Monday.

Continue reading...

‘Suez 2’? Ever Given grounding prompts plan for canal along Egypt-Israel border

Posted on by

UK prepared to play leading role in project given new impetus by Ever Given blockage, say sources

The blockage of the Suez canal by the beached Ever Given container ship has prompted fresh international efforts to find an alternative to the world’s most important shipping corridor.

UN officials are understood to be reviewing plans to construct a new canal along the Egypt-Israel border, having previously dismissed ideas for a much longer route through Iraq and Syria as too hazardous.

Continue reading...

Hilarious, literal, preciously simple: Big Boat Stuck in the Suez Canal was the narrative we needed | Ben Jenkins

Posted on by

Finally, a global news event that we weren’t screaming at each other on Twitter about – and which was simple enough to explain to a child

As the Ever Given was freed from the Suez Canal on Monday — just under a week after it jammed itself in there like a husky gentleman in a waterslide — the prevailing attitude online was not one of relief or celebration.

The hashtag #putitback started trending as people, with varying degrees of sincerity, immediately became nostalgic for the time when the whole world’s attention was fixed on huge oaf of a boat gunking up 200km of canal.

Continue reading...

The Suez boat saga enthralled the world – but not those with naviphobia

Posted on by

Stuck container ship triggered people with fear of ships and sea wreckage and megalophobia, the fear of large objects

When Grace Gibson was texted a picture of the giant container ship Ever Given stuck in the Suez canal, she clenched.

The image – of the gargantuan vessel wedged sideways into the canal – and the lone excavator working to free it – struck most as absurd. Against the massive underbelly of the ship, the equipment looked tiny. But for Gibson, a 26-year old Angeleno, it immediately evoked discomfort.

Continue reading...

Suez canal ship freed and heading to lake for inspections – video

Posted on by

A vast container ship that had blocked the Suez canal in Egypt for almost a week has been completely refloated by salvage teams with the help of tides that swelled to their highest point with the full moon. Dredgers and excavators worked throughout the weekend to dislodge thousands of cubic metres of sand caked around the 400-metre-long Ever Given ship. Tugboats managed in the early hours of Monday first to move it, then pull it free. The vessel is being hauled to a lake where it will undergo technical inspections

Continue reading...

Suez ship partially refloated but bow remains stuck – video

Posted on by

A vast container ship blocking the Suez canal in Egypt for almost a week has been partially refloated, but the vessel’s bulbous bow – or front end – is still stuck at the canal’s edge.

Dredgers, excavators and tugboats worked throughout the weekend fighting changing wind conditions and the tide to dislodge thousands of cubic metres of sand caked around the 400-metre-long Ever Given ship, managing in the early hours of Monday to first move it, then pull it free. Further tugging operations will resume once the tide rises later on Monday

Continue reading...

Suez canal: Ever Given container ship freed after a week

Posted on by

Salvage teams and strong tides help to refloat vessel that had blocked key trading artery

Salvage teams succeeded on Monday in freeing a massive container ship that had been stuck in the Suez canal for the past seven days, blocking billions of dollars’ worth of cargo from crossing one of the world’s busiest marine waterways.

Insurers, the shipping industry and the thousands of businesses reliant on container goods were still counting the cost of the accident as traffic resumed in the evening with more than 422 vessels, carrying a vast range of items from crude oil to cattle, waiting to cross.

Continue reading...

Stranding of Ever Given in Suez canal was foreseen by many – analysis

Posted on by

Analysis: As ships ballooned in size, worst-case scenario was flagged up by organisations such as OECD

Authorities have blamed strong winds, possible technical faults or human error for the stranding of the Ever Given in the Suez canal.

But the running aground of the “megaship” – which salvage teams continued to try to free on Sunday as preparations were made for the possible removal of some of its containers – and the disruption of more than 10% of global trade, has been in the making for years longer according to analysts, who say an accident of this magnitude was foreseeable and warnings were ignored.

Continue reading...

Suez canal: Syria ‘rations’ fuel as efforts to free stuck ship fail

Posted on by

Syria oil ministry restricts supply as canal chief says ‘technical or human errors’ may have been behind stranding of the Ever Given

Syrian authorities say they have begun rationing fuel as the blockage of the Suez canal stretched into a sixth day, delaying vital shipments and worsening the country’s oil shortages.

Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011 and faces a severe economic crisis. It had already announced a more than 50% rise in the price of petrol in mid-March.

Continue reading...