New attempt to refloat the gigantic ship Evergiven and unblock the Suez Canal fails

A new attempt to refloat the Evergiven container ship and thus unlock the Suez Canal failed on the night from Saturday to Sunday, when the full moon and high tide were expected to lead to the success of the operation, one of the companies operating in this sea crossing reported today.

“Unfortunately, the state of the tide did not help to re-float the Ever Given tonight”, Leth Agencies, a company specialized in logistics services in different channels and straits of the world, wrote on his Twitter account.

That company added that the Suez Canal, which manages this Egyptian seaway, will again try to unload the ship this Sunday with the help of tugboats and put the number of vessels waiting to cross the route at 326.

Some of the participants in the rescue operation had expressed their confidence on Saturday that last night was a “good time” to move the Ever Given, which has been blocking the channel since Tuesday morning, having run aground its bow on one of the banks, being crossed in the pass.

Since then attempts to refloat it have been unsuccessful despite the use of up to 14 tugs and dredgers and excavators to remove the sand around the bow of the Ever Given, which was crossed in the channel due, according to the first investigations, to strong winds and a sandstorm.

The captain of one of the tugboats involved said on Saturday that they had managed to move the bow of the ship about 17 meters to the north, towards where it was sailing when it collided with one of the banks.

According to the cargo management company, the multinational Bernhard Schutle Shipmanagement (BSM), two other tugs are expected to join this Sunday.

For its part, the Maersk shipping company, the main one that operates in the Suez Canal, pointed out that, once the passage is released, it will take between three and six days to undo the great traffic jam that has been generated on this road that connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean and that is the shortest maritime route between Asia and Europe.

Some vessels are already diverting their route to the Cape of New Hope to bypass Africa, despite the fact that this route involves several extra days of navigation.

With a capacity for 224,000 tons of cargo, the 400-meter-long container ship of the Taiwanese company Evergreen and the Panamanian flag cover the entire width of the canal, blocking the passage through this road through which 10% of world trade and 25% of merchandise containers pass.