Smit Salvage: The container ship “Ever Given” is probably free at the start of the week

The Dutch rescue company Smit Salvage will likely be able to put the container ship “Ever Given” stuck in the Suez Canal back on the road at the beginning of the week. It could take a little longer if the containers are to be removed in order to reduce the weight of the mammoth vessel, Peter Berdowski, president of Smit Salvage’s parent company, said on Dutch television Friday evening.

“With our ships at the site, sediment already cleared and the great flood that started on Sunday evening, we hope to be able to free the ship again at the beginning of next week,” Berdowski said on a talk show. Additionally, a crane has already been installed to remove hundreds of containers from the front deck.

The 400-meter-long container ship weighing more than 220,000 tons veered off course in a sandstorm on Tuesday and drifted near the banks of the Suez Canal. Since then the water passage between the Red Sea and The Mediterranean SeaAll ships in it cannot continue. Efforts by the Egyptian operator SCA have been in full swing since Wednesday to get the “Ever Given” award for free again. And rescue work is feared to continue for weeks.

Suez Canal Authority: Yes, progress, but the timing is not clear

On the other hand, the operator of the SCA channel said on Saturday at lunchtime that the launch date of the ship had not yet been decided. After all, 9,000 tons of ballast water has been pumped out of the stranded “Evergiven”, and the rudder and propeller will work again. The stuck stern moved temporarily last night. A total of 14 locomotives are in use. If it is not successful in getting the ship to swim again, an attempt can be made to reduce the ship’s tonnage.

The chief Japanese owner of the Japanese ship Shwe Kisen, Yukito Higaki, was more optimistic. This was Friday at a press conference at Japan Set the goal of “liberating” the giant container by Saturday night JST. The water did not reach the “permanent parameter,” and there were no problems with control or driving. “Once the ship is in motion again, it must be operational,” the Asahi Shimbun quoted Higaki as saying.

213 Stored Ships – with tonnage estimated in the billions

Another attempt to free the ship had previously failed. According to th Singapore Resident company Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), responsible for the technical management of the container vessel, is expected to have two more tugboats in the Suez Canal on Sunday to aid the rescue.

Recently, 213 ships carrying billions of dollars in tonnage were stashed on both sides of the canal. German companies too So they are afraid of delivery bottlenecks. Some major shipping companies such as Maersk and Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd are already planning to shift to the much longer route through the Cape of Good Hope.

The US Army offers protection for container ships – from pirates

Meanwhile, given the ongoing blockade, the US military offered its support. White House spokeswoman Jane Psaki said on Friday that talks had already taken place with Egyptian authorities. A team of experts from the US Navy could be quickly sent to the Suez Canal – the central task of the Central Command responsible for the Middle East is the protection of commercial ships in the region.

According to a representative of the US Department of Defense, the team of experts could leave the US naval base the two seas It must be on the way Egypt I made an official application by then. In addition, the US military can provide advice and manpower to the ships that are about to make a detour due to the blockade of the canal. Africa She decided and could collide with pirates.