Suez Canal steps up efforts to free stuck vessel, US watches energy market impact | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
July 10, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2025
Suez Canal steps up efforts to free stuck vessel, US watches energy market impact

Global Economy

Reuters
27 March, 2021, 08:40 am
Last modified: 27 March, 2021, 08:57 am

Related News

  • A dead canal in Dhaka breathes again — and so do Ramchandrapur's residents
  • ACC starts probe into Ctg authorities' negligence in death of child who fell in open drain
  • Canals being filled by garbage dumped from multi-storey buildings: Ctg mayor
  • HC orders action plan for Rangpur Shyamasundari Canal restoration
  • Ctg Port Authority starts dredging canals to ease waterlogging in city

Suez Canal steps up efforts to free stuck vessel, US watches energy market impact

Shipping rates for oil product tankers nearly doubled after the ship became stranded and efforts to free the giant vessel may take weeks and be complicated by unstable weather

Reuters
27 March, 2021, 08:40 am
Last modified: 27 March, 2021, 08:57 am
Ever Given container ship is pictured in Suez Canal in this Maxar Technologies satellite image taken on March 26, 2021. Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS
Ever Given container ship is pictured in Suez Canal in this Maxar Technologies satellite image taken on March 26, 2021. Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS

Dredging and tugging aimed at freeing a mega vessel stuck in the Suez Canal failed on Friday to end a blockage that has lifted shipping rates for fuel tankers and scrambled global supply chains for everything from grains to baby clothes.

US President Joe Biden said his administration was looking at what it could do to help, after the 400-metre (430-yard) long Ever Given ran aground in the vital trade waterway on Tuesday due to strong wind.

"We have equipment and capacity that most countries don't have. And we are seeing what help we can be," Biden told reporters in Delaware.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Navy was prepared to send a team of dredging experts to the canal, but was awaiting approval from local authorities.

The latest effort to dislodge the ship with tug boats was suspended late on Friday, and attempts would resume on Saturday, three sources at the canal said. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) could not immediately be reached for comment.

Shipping rates for oil product tankers nearly doubled after the ship became stranded, and efforts to free the giant vessel may take weeks and be complicated by unstable weather, threatening costly delays for companies already dealing with Covid-19 restrictions.

All its 25 crew members, who have remained on board, were safe, in good health and spirits, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), the Ever Given's technical manager said.

A Dutch rescue team had confirmed two additional tugs would arrive on March 28 to help dislodge the ship, BSM said.

"There have been no reports of pollution or cargo damage and initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding," a BSM statement said.

Reeling from the blockage in the Suez Canal, shipping rates for oil product tankers have nearly doubled this week, while oil prices climbed on Friday. Ciara Lee reports.
Video: Reuters

Read more: https://t.co/BxhpNMgMNq#suezcanel #SuezBLOCKED #suezchannel #SuezCrisis pic.twitter.com/XuI3M5gkvx— The Business Standard (@tbsnewsdotnet) March 27, 2021

Earlier, the SCA said efforts to free the ship by tug had resumed following the completion of dredging operations at its bow to remove 20,000 cubic metres of sand.

"The tugging operations require the availability of a number of supporting factors including wind direction and tides, which makes it a complex technical process," the authority said.

The SCA welcomed a US offer to help. Turkey also said it can send a vessel to the canal, amid a push by Ankara to repair ties with Egypt after years of animosity.

The suspension of traffic along the channel linking Europe and Asia has deepened problems for shipping lines.

The blockage could cost global trade $6 billion to $10 billion a week, a study by German insurer Allianz showed on Friday.

Ratings agency Moody's expects Europe's manufacturing and car parts suppliers to be most affected because they operate "just-in-time" supply chains, and said port congestion and further delays to the supply chain were "inevitable."

Stranded container ship Ever Given, one of the world's largest container ships, is seen after it ran aground, in Suez Canal, Egypt March 26, 2021. Suez Canal Authority/Handout via REUTERS
Stranded container ship Ever Given, one of the world's largest container ships, is seen after it ran aground, in Suez Canal, Egypt March 26, 2021. Suez Canal Authority/Handout via REUTERS

Impact On Oil

Retired British Royal Navy commander Tom Sharpe said the best bet for the next attempt would be a high tide on Sunday, but because the ship was aground both front and rear there was a risk the hull could rupture if rescuers pulled too hard.

Mohab Mamish, the Egyptian presidential adviser on Suez Canal projects and sea ports, told MBC Misr TV a floating crane should be used to transfer some of the Ever Given's containers to another ship to lighten the vessel and enable it to float.

About two dozen ships could be seen from the shores of Port Said on Friday morning, according to a Reuters witness.

Oil rose over 3% on Friday as more than 30 oil tankers have been waiting on either side of the canal since Tuesday, shipping data on Refinitiv showed. However, there is low seasonal demand for crude and liquefied natural gas, which will likely mitigate the impact on prices, analysts said.

About 4 million barrels of mostly Kazakh CPC Blend and some Russian Urals were waiting along with tankers carrying Libyan, Azeri and some North Sea crude oil for Asian refiners, traders said.

Egypt's SUMED pipeline operator approached crude traders to see whether they wanted to book space in the system but so far traders prefer to wait to avoid high additional costs.

GRAPHIC: Black Sea to Mediterranean fuel shipping rates jump as traders try to bypass blocked Suez canal 

Analysts expect a greater price impact on smaller tankers carrying oil products, such as naphtha and fuel oil, for export from Europe to Asia, if the canal remains shut for weeks.

Re-routing ships around the Cape of Good Hope could add about two weeks and extra fuel costs to the voyage, said Sri Paravaikkarasu, director for Asia oil at FGE.

The blockage is weighing on the already weak Asian gasoil, or diesel, market. More than 60% of Asian exports to the west flowed via the choked Canal in 2020, according to FGE.

GRAPHIC: Tanker congestion at Suez Canal

Aframax and Suezmax rates in the Mediterranean have also reacted as the market starts to price in fewer vessels being available in the region, shipbroker Braemar ACM Shipbroking said.

At least four Long-Range 2 tankers that might have been headed toward Suez from the Atlantic basin are now likely to be evaluating a passage around the Cape of Good Hope, Braemar ACM said. Each LR-2 tanker can carry around 75,000 tonnes of oil.

The cost of shipping clean products, such as gasoline and diesel, from the Russian port of Tuapse on the Black Sea to southern France jumped 73% over the last three days to $2.58 a barrel on March 25, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

GRAPHIC: Giant containership Ever Given continues to block traffic in the Suez Canal

The shipping index benchmark for LR2 vessels from the Middle East to Japan, known as TC1, has climbed by a third since last week to 137.5 worldscale points, said Anoop Jayaraj, clean tanker broker at Fearnleys Singapore. Worldscale is an industry tool used to calculate freight rates.

On the crude side, traders have had to pay 10-20% more for replacement tankers but market freight rates have not yet risen as charterers are not ready to commit to higher levels in case the container is freed this weekend, shipbrokers said.

Top News / World+Biz

Suez Canal / Suez Canal Authority (SCA) / Suez Canal Economic Zone / Ever Given vessel / canal / Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM)

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • In terms of stream of education, girls maintained their excellence as well. Photo: TBS
    Lowest SSC pass rate in 17 years as over 6 lakh students fail
  • BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir while speaking at a discussion at National Press Club on 10 July 2025. Photo: TBS
    'Backbone of economy will break': Fakhrul says govt should've worked seriously with more qualified people on US tariffs
  • S Alam Group Chairman Mohammed Saiful Alam. Photo: Collected
    Court freezes foreign investments of S Alam Group chairman, family in Singapore

MOST VIEWED

  • Graphics: TBS
    BB raises startup fund limit, drops upper age barrier
  • Workers pack undergarments at the packing section of a garment factory in Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Fatima Tuj Johora
    After US tariffs, jobs hang by a thread in Bangladesh's garments sector
  • Global Islami Bank rectifies 2023 figures, reports Tk2,259cr loss instead of Tk128cr profit
    Global Islami Bank rectifies 2023 figures, reports Tk2,259cr loss instead of Tk128cr profit
  • Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    Audit reports of most banks contain cooked up data: BB governor
  • File photo of containers at Chattogram port/TBS
    US buyers push Bangladeshi exporters to share extra tariff costs
  • CA orders law enforcers to complete all election preparations by December
    CA orders law enforcers to complete all election preparations by December

Related News

  • A dead canal in Dhaka breathes again — and so do Ramchandrapur's residents
  • ACC starts probe into Ctg authorities' negligence in death of child who fell in open drain
  • Canals being filled by garbage dumped from multi-storey buildings: Ctg mayor
  • HC orders action plan for Rangpur Shyamasundari Canal restoration
  • Ctg Port Authority starts dredging canals to ease waterlogging in city

Features

Illustration: TBS

Behind closed doors: Why women in Bangladesh stay in abusive marriages

1h | Panorama
Purbachl’s 144-acre Sal forest is an essential part of the area’s biodiversity. Within it, 128 species of plants and 74 species of animals — many of them endangered- have been identified. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS

A forest saved: Inside the restoration of Purbachal's last Sal grove

2h | Panorama
Women are forced to fish in saline waters every day, risking their health to provide for their families. Photo: TBS

How Mongla’s women are bearing the brunt of rising salinity

23h | Panorama
Dr Mostafa Abid Khan. Sketch: TBS

Actual impact will depend on how US retailers respond: Mostafa Abid Khan

2d | Economy

More Videos from TBS

SSC and equivalent results released: Pass rate 68.45%, GPA drops by 5

SSC and equivalent results released: Pass rate 68.45%, GPA drops by 5

23m | TBS Today
Islami bank aims to increase deposits to Tk 2 lakh crore by 2025

Islami bank aims to increase deposits to Tk 2 lakh crore by 2025

2h | TBS Programs
The two countries still face major challenges and mutual suspicions

The two countries still face major challenges and mutual suspicions

1h | Others
RMG sector braces for impact as US tariffs hit: Fakhrul

RMG sector braces for impact as US tariffs hit: Fakhrul

2h | TBS Today
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net