Suez Canal: US navy to assist with freeing ship stuck in critical waterway
The US navy plans to assist Egypt in freeing a container ship that has been stuck in the Suez Canal since Tuesday, two Department of Defense officials told CNN.
The US navy's dredging assessment team could arrive by Saturday to assist in the effort to free the 400m ship, Ever Given, which turned sideways in the narrow waterway after getting caught in 40-knot winds and a sandstorm that caused low visibility and poor navigation.
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Once the US team assesses the situation it will advise authorities on freeing the container ship, which is completely blocking transit through the Suez Canal, one of the world's busiest shipping channels for oil and grain and other trade linking Asia and Europe.
Rescue teams have been working for days to dislodge the Panama-flagged ship but have been unable to refloat the Ever Given.
"Another attempt to refloat the vessel earlier today ... was not successful," Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), technical manager of the ship, said in a statement on Friday. The company added that more equipment was expected to be brought in to assist further efforts.
BSM said the current focus of the operation was on dredging to remove sand and mud from around the port side of the vessel's bow. A specialised suction dredger, which can shift 2,000 cubic metres of material every hour, arrived on site on Thursday to support the ongoing dredging operations.
Removing the sand
Up to 20,000 cubic metres of sand in the canal need to be removed to free the container ship, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said on Thursday.
Once enough sand is removed to allow for a depth of 12 to 16 metres (39 to 52 feet), the ship could be able to float out of the waterway.
The US Defense Department told Middle East Eye that it could not confirm "any potential specific support at this time", but it continues to monitor and assess the situation.
"We have offered, and stand ready to assist Egypt, and will look to support any specific request we receive," said Pentagon Spokesperson Commander Jessica L McNulty.
On Thursday, the UK government said it was on hand to help free the ship if a request were made.
"We are ready to provide any assistance that we can but have not been asked yet," a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
The Turkish government has also offered to help, saying on Friday that it was prepared to dispatch emergency response vessel Nene Hatun, if Egypt requested it.
A spokeswoman for the owner of the ship in Japan said the refloating work was ongoing and that there was currently no "estimate for when the work will succeed".
Mohab Mamish, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's adviser on seaports, told AFP late on Thursday that "maritime navigation will resume again within 48-72 hours, maximum".
"I have experience with several rescue operations of this kind and as the former chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, I know every centimetre of the canal," said Mamish, who oversaw the recent expansion of the waterway.
However, salvage experts had warned earlier on Thursday that the shutdown could last days or even weeks, potentially forcing businesses to re-route cargo ships around the southern tip of Africa in a blow to global supply networks.
Global shipping giant Maersk and Germany's Hapag-Lloyd both said on Thursday that they were looking into going around Africa.
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