Suez Canal shipowner sets target to free vessel

More tugs are being used to move the container ship Ever Given from the Suez Canal, with a target to free the vessel by late on 27 March, its owner Japanese shipping firm Shoei Kisen said.

Work is focusing on dredging, as well as digging the wall of the canal, to free up space to move the vessel using tugs attached to its bow, the company said.

There are 10 tugs being used to try to move the ship and two other, bigger tugs will be used, Shoei Kisen's president Yukito Higaki said today. The target is to free the vessel by tomorrow night Japan time, he said.

The target is more optimistic than projections by other companies involved in the rescue work. Dutch marine infrastructure company Royal Boskalis Westminster, one of the salvage firms called to the rescue of the vessel, warned yesterday that it could take "days to weeks to solve the issue".

The dredging and digging work has been tried repeatedly without success, but attempts will continue as this appears to be the only way to move the ship in the short term, a Shoei Kisen official said today.

Shoei Kisen proposed unloading some of the ship's containers and discharging some fuel immediately after the ship ran aground, but this was rejected by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) as unpractical, the official added. No fuel has leaked from the vessel, the company said.

The 400m-long ship is still blocking the critical waterway, which links the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, after running aground in the canal's northbound lane at 07:40 local time (05:40 GMT) on 23 March. The SCA officially suspended navigation through the channel yesterday.

A total of 237 vessels were awaiting transit through the canal earlier today, up from 156 yesterday, shipping agent Leth Agencies said. These include 33 crude and products tankers, 64 bulk tankers, 16 chemical tankers, four LNG and nine LPG carriers.

By Maiko Nakashima and Kevin Foster