原文标题：
Suez Canal could be blocked by 'beached whale' tanker for days
苏伊士运河被搁浅的巨鲸塞好塞满卡洞好几天
原文连结：
https://reurl.cc/4yqrR2
发布时间：
Thu, March 25, 2021, 4:41 PM
原文内容：
The Suez canal, a major waterway blocked by a huge container ship that ran
aground on Tuesday, remains blocked despite efforts to dislodge the vessel.
Media reports say this has caused a massive queue of more than 150 containers
in the Suez region impacting both global shipping traffic as well as oil
prices on Wednesday.
It is unclear how long it will take to move the ship. Some experts say it
could be done over the next few days while others have warned it could take
weeks.
The ship is blocking the path of other vessels travelling in both directions
across the Suez, bringing 13% of the world’s trade to a halt. About $10bn (￡
7.3bn) worth of goods is expected to join the jam every day until the
container is moved out of the way.
Egyptian tug boats have so far failed to pull the ship free and on Thursday
morning it was reported that low tide has slowed efforts to dislodge it.
The Suez Canal Authority has said "the floatation efforts included towing and
pushing the grounding vessel using eight large tugboats; largest of which is
BARAKA 1 with a towing power of 160 tons."
It added that it was trying to rebalance the 224,000-tonne ship in the hope
that a high tide on Wednesday night would create enough extra draught to free
it.
According to Bloomberg, an "elite team" is getting ready to free the massive
container vessel and dredgers are still trying to loosen the vessel before
any attempt to pull it out.
It quoted one expert as saying the best chance for returning shipping to
normal may not come until Sunday or Monday.
READ MORE: What Suez Canal blockage could mean for global trade
But Peter Berdowski, CEO of Dutch company Boskalis, which is trying to free
the ship, said it was too early to say how long the job might take.
“We can’t exclude it might take weeks, depending on the situation,”
Berdowski told Reuters.
“It is like an enormous beached whale. 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
added.
Around 50 vessels per day use the Suez Canal, according to Panjiva, the
supply chain research unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Container ships
accounted for 52.7% of the tonnage in 2019 transiting the canal including
shipments from Asia to Europe and the US east coast as well as vice-versa.
The canal has had to contend with ever larger container vessels using the
average tonnage per container ship reaching 119,000 tons in the 12 months to
28 February, 2020 from 93,500 in 2015, Panjiva said.
"The Suez jam is still very much headache for international trade, which is
threatening the international supply chain. Efforts are being made to
dislodge the ship, but the reality is that a matter doesn't only rely on the
expert team, but luck also needs to play its part," said Naeem Aslam, chief
market analyst at AvaTrade.
"A high tide isn't expected before Sunday, and this means that shipping
traffic is likely to remain jammed for a few days," he added.
The Ever Given was launched in 2018 and is owned by Japanese firm Shoei Kisen
Kaisha. It is chartered by Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine and a German company
called Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) is responsible for its
day-to-day operational running.
"BSM’s immediate priorities are to safely re-float the vessel and for marine
traffic in the Suez Canal to safely resume. The continued efforts of the Suez
Canal Authority and those involved in ongoing re-floating operations are
greatly appreciated," the company said in a statement.
"It’s one of the largest container ships in the world – 400 meters long,
somewhere between the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building – and is
fully loaded, so it’s really, really stuck," said Marshall Gittler, head of
investment research at BDSwiss Holding.
He estimates are that the ship may be blocking 2 million barrels a day of oil
and petroleum products.
The Ever Given is able to carry the equivalent of 20,000 units of 20ft
containers (teu), twice as much as the largest ships afloat just a decade
ago, The Telegraph reported.
"Although such ships have brought great efficiencies to their owners, they
have been criticised for slowing down supply chains and causing accidents in
ports and waterways they are too big for," the publication said.
It also said 19,000 ships pass through the canal every year.
Brent futures (BZ=F) were down 1.2% to $63.65 (￡46.5) and crude futures
(CL=F) were 1.4% lower to $60.30.
Earlier in the week on Tuesday, oil futures dropped as much as 6% amid
concerns that the COVID-19 third wave could lead to oversupply in the market.
On Wednesday they rebounded after news that the canal, a key waterway for
global trade, was being blocked by a container ship that has run aground and
is delaying ship movement.
Prices were also boosted by data showing US gasoline demand improved and
refinery run rates were picking up.
“As much as those (Suez blockage and US demand) factors were there, it doesn
’t really erase the demand concerns questions that were asked earlier this
week,” CNBC quoted Commonwealth Bank commodities analyst Vivek Dhar as
saying.
“And while the focus was on Europe, we also have rising COVID-19 cases in
places like India and Brazil, developing economies which are really critical
to the story for sustainable oil demand growth," he added.
Noting that about 10% of global seaborne oil passes through the canal,
Gittler had earlier said that the problem should be soon fixed “so I doubt
if it will have much lasting impact."
机翻如下：
周二一艘巨型货柜船搁浅后，苏伊士运河这条主要水道被堵塞，尽管人们努力搬移这艘船
，但运河仍然被堵塞。媒体报导称，这造成苏伊士地区150多个货柜大量排队，影响了周
三全球航运交通以及油价。
目前还不清楚移船需要多长时间。一些专家说可能在未来几天内完成，而其他专家则警告
说可能需要数周时间。
这艘船挡住了在苏伊士河上双向行驶的其他船只的去路，使全球13%的贸易陷入停顿。预
计每天将有价值约100亿美元(73亿英镑)的货物加入堵塞行列，直到货柜被移开。
埃及拖船至今未能将该船拉开，周四上午有报导称，退潮减缓了移开该船的努力。
苏伊士运河管理局表示，"浮动工作包括使用8艘大型拖船拖拽和推动搁浅船只；其中最大
的是BARAKA 1号，拖动力为160吨。"
它补充说，它正试图重新平衡这艘22.4万吨级的船，希望周三晚上的涨潮能产生足够的额
外吃水来释放它。
据彭博社报导，一支 "精英团队 "正准备解救这艘巨大的货柜船，挖泥船仍在试图在任何
试图拉出这艘船之前将其松开。
它援引一位专家的话说，航运恢复正常的最佳机会可能要到周日或周一才能到来。
但正在试图解救这艘船的荷兰公司Boskalis的首席执行官Peter Berdowski表示，现在说
这项工作可能需要多长时间还为时过早。
"我们不能排除可能需要数周时间，这取决于情况，"Berdowski告诉路透社。
"它就像一条巨大的被搁浅的鲸鱼。它是沙地上的巨大重量。我们可能要通过清除船上的
货柜、油和水、拖船和挖沙来减轻重量，"他补充道。
根据标普全球市场情报公司供应链研究部门Panjiva的资料，每天约有50艘船使用苏伊士
运河。在2019年过境运河的吨位中，货柜船占52.7%，包括从亚洲到欧洲和美国东海岸以
及反过来的货运。
Panjiva表示，运河不得不应对越来越大的货柜船使用，在截至2020年2月28日的12个月内
，每艘货柜船的平均吨位从2015年的9.35万吨达到11.9万吨。
"苏伊士号的堵塞对于国际贸易来说还是非常头疼的，它威胁著国际供应链。目前正在努
力驱离船只，但现实是，一件事情不仅要靠专家团队，运气也需要发挥作用。"AvaTrade
首席市场分析师Naeem Aslam说。
"预计周日之前不会出现高潮，这意味着航运交通可能会持续拥堵几天，"他补充道。
Ever Given号于2018年推出，由日本公司Shoei Kisen Kaisha拥有。它由台湾长荣海运公
司租用，一家名为Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement（BSM）的德国公司负责其日常运营
运行。
"BSM的当务之急是安全地重新浮起该船，并使苏伊士运河的海上交通安全恢复。我们非常
感谢苏伊士运河管理局和参与正在进行的重新漂浮作业的人员的持续努力，"该公司在一
份声明中说。
"这是世界上最大的货柜船之一