Earlier on Friday, the container ship in the Suez Canal was not able to pull smoothly. This is reported by the company responsible for the technical management of the ship, Bernard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM). With dredging and two additional tugs from the Dutch company SMIT Salvage we will now try to get the 400 meter long container ship moving.

The container ship crashed last Tuesday, resulting in a huge traffic jam of container ships. World Trade is in danger of being seriously disrupted. According to estimates by shipping expert Lloyd’s List, the grounded ship holds back nearly 10 billion dollars of trade every day.

Since Thursday, a dredging ship has been on location, which can move around 2,000 cubic meters of land. Five tugs are active around the container ship. With the ships of Boskalis subsidiary SMIT Salvage still on their way, the total will come to seven. The tugs are expected to reach the Ever Given on Sunday.

In addition, preparations are being made to lower the water level in ballast tanks in the bow and stern of the container ship with special pumps, writes BSM. This should make the ship lighter and improve buoyancy.

If we are lucky, the large container ship that is stuck in the Suez Canal can be released after the weekend. This Is What Boskalis CEO Peter Berdowski said. Next week it will be a few days of high tide, which is beneficial. Then the ship must be pulled apart.

BSM says Friday that first investigations show that the container ship has got into trouble due to strong winds. The Ever Given was on its way to the port of Rotterdam. The longer the blockade of the Suez Canal continues, the greater the risk of economic problems.