Dredgers aim to dig down 16m around Ever Given, amid hopes high tide will re-float it – follow live

The FTSE 100 rallied on Friday as global stock markets rose following falls on Thursday, writes Ben Chapman.

In London the index of large companies’ shares climbed 0.8 per cent to 6,731.32 despite growing concerns about delays to shipping caused by a grounded container ship in the Suez canal.

Investors showed renewed optimism after markets had taken a slide on fears of a a slower recovery and the impact of sanctions imposed on China. The EU joined the US in announcing sanctions on China over allegations of human rights abuses of the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang.

The Suez Canal has huge political importance in addition to its key role in the local and global economies, an expert tells The Independent.

It “has historically been an enormously important fulcrum of Egyptian and global politics” under its various controllers, said Dr Laleh Khalili, an international politics professor at Queen Mary, University of London.

She said: “From its inception as a colonial project facilitating and accelerating British and French imperial control in Asia and Africa, to its nationalisation in 1956 which led to the tripartite attack on Egypt by Britain, France and Israel, the canal has been not only important economically but also politically.

“The opening of the Suez Canal shortened the route between Asia and Europe by a matter of several weeks.”

The canal has even spurred technological change, Dr Khalili said, such as the shift from sail to steam, “as a sailing ship cannot be so easily guided down the canal when transversal winds are blowing”.

ed: “In the two periods where the canal was closed due to war – eight months after the 1956 war, and eight years after the 1967 war – ship sizes increased enormously to take advantage of economies of scale while rounding the Cape of Good Hope on the Asia-Europe route.”

Its historical significance aside, today’s politicians have also capitalised on the canal.

Dr Khalili said: “After General Sisi came to power in a violent coup in 2013, he really needed a national project that was going to be symbolically and economically important.

“The canal’s expansion – the creation of a parallel canal, or a two-ways system, in the middle third of the canal – in 2015 and 2016 provided such an occasion.

“The added bonus was that reported Saudi investments in the expansion project more closely bound the counter-revolutionary regimes in the two countries.”

Today, Dr Khalili said, some 50 ships cross the canal in both directions every day. Because crossing fees are high, they are often run by some of the biggest freight firms in the world.

As marine traffic around the Suez Canal continues to build, the resulting disruption to global trade is growing ever more severe.

David Smith, head of hull and marine liabilities at McGill and Partners, said: “The blocking of the Suez Canal might appear to be a local issue, but in truth, it is a situation of global significance, with more than 10 per cent of world trade passing through the narrow Egyptian waterway.

“The ships stuck in the queue behind the grounded Ever Given could arrive at their destination well behind schedule, with no obvious ‘ETA’ in sight. This is incredibly damaging for those sending, receiving and transporting the freight.

“The disruption will come with a hefty price tag, a figure of $100m (£72.6m) has been mentioned by some in the industry. However, the final bill – which will be made up of compensation for delays, loss of revenue for the Canal Authority, potential damage to cargo and the cost of refloating the ship – is likely to be even more expensive.

“For some time now the salvage industry has been warning that container ships are simply getting too big for situations like this to be resolved efficiently and economically. This incident may force shipbuilders, owners and cargo operators to sit up and listen.”

The Ever Given’s technical manager, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), has praised its crew who it said were working with canal authorities to shift the ship.

BSM said in a statement: “The focus now is on dredging to remove sand and mud from around the port side of the vessel’s bow. In addition to the dredgers already on site a specialised suction dredger is now with the vessel and will shortly begin work. This dredger can shift 2,000 cu m of material every hour.

“At the time of the incident the Ever Given was transiting northbound through the canal en route to Rotterdam, Netherlands with two canal pilots onboard. Initial investigations suggest the vessel grounded due to strong wind.

“All 25 crew are safe and accounted for. All crew are Indian nationals and remain onboard. The crew are working closely with all parties involved to re-float the vessel. The hard work and tireless professionalism of the master and crew is greatly appreciated.

“There have been no reports of pollution or cargo damage and initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding.

“BSM’s continuing priorities are to safely re-float the vessel and for marine traffic in the Suez Canal to resume.”

Internationally, many are getting ready for the effect that the pause in shipping caused by Ever Given’s grounding will have on supply chains that rely on precise deliveries of goods.

Singapore’s minister of transport, Ong Ye Kung, said the country’s port should expect disruptions.

“Should that happen, some draw-down on inventories will become necessary,” he said in a Facebook post.

The backlog of vessels could stress European ports and the international supply of containers, already strained by the coronavirus pandemic, according to IHS Markit, a business research group.

It said 49 container ships were scheduled to pass through the canal in the seven days following Tuesday, when the Ever Given became lodged.

Shoei Kisen, the Japanese owner of the container ship blocking the Suez Canal, said it aims to free the ship “tomorrow night Japan time”, the Nikkei reported on Friday.

The 400m Ever Given, leased by Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corp, is blocking transit through one of the world’s busiest shipping channels for oil and grain and other trade linking Asia and Europe.

A spokesperson for the owner in Japan said that the refloating work was ongoing but that the company did not yet know when the effort would succeed.

“We don’t have an estimate for when the work will succeed,” she said.

A mix of satellite and on-the-ground photos show the current situation of the Ever Given.

Which is to say, it’s not moved in three days.

This infographic, created for The Independent by statistics agency Statista, shows potential trade bottlenecks around the globe.

Work to free the Ever Given is complex and teams have to avoid complications that might extend the closure of the waterway, a Suez Canal Authority official has said.

A team from Boskalis, a Dutch firm specialising in salvage, started working with the canal authority yesterday.

The rescue efforts have focused on dredging to remove sand and mud from around the port side of the vessel’s bow.

The Suez Canal Authority, which operates the waterway, deployed tugboats and a specialised suction dredger that is able to shift 2,000 cu m of material every hour.

Officials said they would need to remove between 15,000 and 20,000 cu m of sand to reach a depth of 12m to 16m.

That depth was likely to allow the ship to float freely again, they said.

Workers trying to re-float the Ever Given are believed to be aiming for Saturday’s high tide as the best chance to do so.

The extra volume of water might provide enough lift to shift her from the sandy banks of the Suez Canal.

Toby Dunipace, head of gas at the shipbrokers Simpson Spence Young, said: “The common message we hear is that there is a high tide expected this coming Saturday 27 March, and this is the best chance to free the vessel from her current grounding.

“Until this time it is premature to suggest further impact to the market, however if this high tide comes and goes and the vessel is still aground, this may cause long-term impact.

“The next cause of action would likely be to remove containers from the vessel, and as we understand it there is no plan in place for that yet.

“The situation is developing day by day and as such things can change very quickly.”