On Tuesday 23rd March, 2021 the 2018 built 400 metre mother container ship EVER GIVEN grounded inside the Suez Canal affecting both way traffic and operation of the Suez Canal.
As per the reports the ship was crossing the canal under the northbound convoy when the incident happened. No other ship was involved in any other kind of incident, however, dozens of ship which were behind the EVER GIVEN are now stuck and anchored for clearing of the canal. The Southbound Convey is also stuck as there is no room for any ship to cross this point.
EVER GIVEN was the largest ship when she was launched in 2018 built as yard number S-1833 and is one of thirteen container ships built to the Imabari 20000 design developed by Imabari Shipbuilding at Japan. Homeported in Panama she was completed 25th September 2018 with 20,124 TEU capacity. She replaces the 1986 built 53,239 dwt container ship bearing the same name and also Japanese built.
EVER GIVEN is the largest vessel ever to aground in the Suez Canal ever, making it tougher for the authorities to clear it from the site. The Boskalis company Smit Salvage has been appointed to lead the salvage operations along with Nippon Salvage.
Boskalis chief executive Peter Berdowski revealed the potential time frame, which threatens to keep blocking a key shortcut between Europe and Asia, in a Dutch TV interview. He stated that the current condition of the ship is like an “enormous beached whale”.
Initial attempts to refloat the EVER GIVEN are focusing on redistributing the ship’s ballast and using the tide. There are eight tugs involved in the salvage operation. But Berdowski said salvage operations might have to be stepped up. “It’s an enormous weight on the sand. We might have to work with a combination of reducing the weight by removing containers, oil and water from the ship, tug boats and dredging of sand,” he said.
Interesting to see at the salvage operation are the 2019 built escort tugs SVITZER PORT SAID 1 and SVITZER PORT SAID 2 which were both built by Cheoy Lee’s Hin Lee Zhuhai Shipyard in China’s Guangdong Province designed by Canadian naval architecture firm Robert Allan Ltd.
Both Suez Canal Authority 69 metres 2,320 dwt sister tugs are deployed – BARAKA 1 and EZZAT ADEL
Like most large container ships, EVER GIVEN is propelled by a single low-speed two-stroke crosshead diesel engine coupled to a fixed-pitch propeller. The main engine, an 11 Cylinder license-manufactured Mitsui–MAN B&W 11G95ME-C9, is rated at 59,300 kW (79,500 horsepower) at 79 rpm and gives the vessel a service speed of 22.8 knots (42.2 km/h; 26.2 mph).[4In addition, the vessel has 4 x 8 Cylinder Yanmar 8EY33LW auxiliary diesel generators.[For manoeuvrings in ports she has two 2,500 kW (3,400 hp) bow thrusters.]
This is EVER GIVEN second accident – First one back to 9th February, 2021 when she struck and heavily damaged a 25 meter long HADAG (HADAG Seetouristik und Fährdienst AG, or “HADAG Sea-tourism and Ferry service“) ferry boat FINKENWERDER at Blankenese, near Hamburg Port, Germany. Two minutes after the collision, a traffic ban on the Elbe river was issued due to high winds
Watermarked Photos are by Capt. Lawrence Dalli otherwise stated. Do not use these images without my permission. © All rights reserved. Malta Ship Photos & Action Photos – www.maltashipphotos.com
Published – Saturday 27th March ,2021.
