Traffic diverted in Suez Canal due to Container Ship running into bridge

Tanker-stuck-Suez-Canal

Important Takeaways:

  • A container ship collided with a floating bridge in the eastern lane of the Suez Canal on Wednesday but the passage of ships through the waterway would not be interrupted, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said.
  • Tugboats were working to tow the One Orpheus, which suffered a fault with its rudder while transiting the canal on its way from Singapore to the Netherlands, the authority said in a statement.
  • The incident occurred in the eastern lane of the middle section of the canal, built as an expansion that was completed in 2015.
  • Convoys of ships coming from the south were being diverted along the original branch of the canal, the canal authority said.
  • The Suez Canal is one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes and an important source of foreign currency for Egypt.
  • Works are currently underway to expand the southern, single-lane section of the canal, after a giant container ship ran aground there in 2021, blocking traffic through the waterway for six days.

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U.S. Coast Guard boards ship in connection with California oil spill

(Reuters) – The U.S. Coast Guard boarded a container ship on Saturday in the Port of Long Beach that dragged its anchor close to a subsea pipeline found to be the source of an oil spill off Orange County, California, it said in a press release.

The spill released some 3,000 barrels (126,000 gallons) of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean, killing wildlife, blackening the coastline and forcing officials to close beaches south of Los Angeles.

In its statement, the Coast Guard said an investigation had determined that the MSC DANIT was involved in the anchor-dragging incident “during a heavy weather event” that impacted Long Beach and Los Angeles ports in January.

As a result, it said, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A., which operates the vessel, and Dordellas Finance Corporation, the ship’s owner, have been designated by the Coast Guard as parties of interest in the investigation.

The designation allows the companies to be represented by counsel, examine and cross-examine witnesses, and call witnesses who are relevant to the investigation, the Coast Guard said.

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Dordellas Finance Corporation could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Coast Guard said the investigation was ongoing and that “multiple pipeline scenarios” as well as additional vessels of interest continue to be investigated.

Amplify Energy, which owns the pipeline, has said it was “pulled like a bowstring” about 105 feet (32 meters) from where it should have been.

(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

Egyptian court rejects appeal against detention of ship in Suez Canal

CAIRO (Reuters) – An Egyptian court on Tuesday ruled that the container ship which blocked the Suez Canal in March could continue to be held in the waterway, rejecting an appeal by its Japanese owner against its detention, a judicial source said.

The Ever Given, one of the world’s largest container ships, got jammed across the canal on March 23 and remained stuck for six days, stopping traffic in both directions.

It has been held in a lake between two stretches of the canal since being dislodged on March 29, amid a dispute over a $916 million claim by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) against Japanese owner Shoei Kisen for compensation over the incident.

The SCA has been conducting investigations into the cause of the ship’s grounding, but has yet to announce the results.

The court in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, which had approved the detention of the ship following the submission of a report by the SCA, upheld that decision on Tuesday, rejecting an appeal made late last month.

The reasoning for the ruling was not immediately clear, but the SCA argued that the plaintiff had not notified all the required parties of its challenge to the ship’s detention within the required time limit.

The ship’s protection and indemnity insurer, UK Club, said the owners were reviewing their options in light of the decision, and had until May 20 to appeal.

UK Club and the Ever Given’s technical manager Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) have expressed disappointment at the ship’s detention.

UK Club said last month the appeal was made “on several grounds, including the validity of the arrest obtained in respect of the cargo and the lack of supporting evidence for the SCA’s very significant claim”.

International supply chains were thrown into disarray when the 400-metre (430-yard) Ever Given ran aground in the canal, with 18,300 containers on board.

(Reporting by Yusri Mohamed; additional reporting by Jonathan Saul; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Giles Elgood)