2 tugboats speed to Egypt's Suez Canal as shippers avoid it
Suez (Egypt): Two additional tugboats sped Sunday to Egypt's Suez Canal to aid efforts to free a skyscraper-sized container ship wedged for days across the crucial waterway, even as major shippers increasingly divert their boats out of fear the vessel may take even longer to free.
The massive Ever Given, a Panama-flagged, Japanese-owned ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, got stuck Tuesday in a single-lane stretch of the canal. In the time since, authorities have been unable to remove the vessel and traffic through the canal valued at over 9 billion a day has been halted, further disrupting a global shipping network already strained by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Dutch-flagged Alp Guard and the Italian-flagged Carlo Magno, called in to help tugboats already there, reached the Red Sea near the city of Suez early Sunday, satellite data from MarineTraffic.com showed.
The tugboats will nudge the 400-meter-long (quarter-mile-long) Ever Given as dredgers continue to vacuum up sand from underneath the vessel and mud caked to its port side, said Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, which manages the Ever Given.
Workers planned to make two attempts Sunday to free the vessel coinciding with high tides, a top pilot with the canal authority said.
Sunday is very critical," the pilot said. It will determine the next step, which highly likely involves at least the partial offloading of the vessel.
Taking containers off the ship likely would add even more days to the canal's closure, something authorities have been desperately trying to avoid. It also would require a crane and other equipment that have yet to arrive.
The pilot spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to brief journalists.
On Saturday, the head of the Suez Canal Authority told journalists that strong winds were not the only cause for the Ever Given running aground, appearing to push back against conflicting assessments offered by others. Lt. Gen. Osama Rabei said an investigation was ongoing but did not rule out human or technical error.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement maintains that their initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding. However, at least one initial report suggested a blackout struck the hulking vessel carrying some 20,000 containers at the time of the incident.
Rabei said he remained hopeful that dredging could free the ship without having to resort to removing its cargo, but added that we are in a difficult situation, it's a bad incident.
Asked about when they expected to free the vessel and reopen the canal, he said: I can't say because I do not know.
Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the company that owns the vessel, said it was considering removing containers if other refloating efforts failed. The Ever Given is wedged about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) north of the canal's Red Sea entrance near the city of Suez.
A prolonged closure of the crucial waterway would cause delays in the global shipment chain. Some 19,000 vessels passed through the canal last year, according to official figures. About 10% of world trade flows through the canal.
The closure could affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Middle East. Already, Syria has begun rationing the distribution of fuel in the war-torn country amid concerns of delays of shipments arriving amid the blockage.
As of early Sunday, over 320 ships waited to travel through the Suez, either to the Mediterranean or the Red Sea, according to canal services firm Leth Agencies. Dozens of others still listed their destination as the canal, though shippers increasingly appear to be avoiding the passage.
The world's biggest shipping company, Denmark's A P Moller-Maersk, warned its customers that it would take anywhere from three to six days to clear the backlog of vessels at the canal. Already, the firm and its partners have 22 ships waiting there.
The current number (of) redirected Maersk and partner vessels is 14 and expected to rise as we assess the salvage efforts along with network capacity and fuel on our vessels currently en route to Suez, the shipper said.
Mediterranean Shipping Co., the world's second-largest, said it already had rerouted at least 11 ships around Africa's Cape of Good Hope to avoid the canal. It turned back two other ships and said it expected some missed sailings as a result of this incident.
MSC expects this incident to have a very significant impact on the movement of containerized goods, disrupting supply chains beyond the existing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it said. (AP)
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Rahul Gandhi unveils 5 poll guarantees for Kerala, targets PM Modi and CM Vijayan
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): In a high-stakes campaign here, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday combined five populist electoral pledges with a fierce assault on Kerala’s ruling Communists, alleging Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is being "controlled" by Narendra Modi in the same manner Donald Trump exerts influence over the Prime Minister.
Speaking at the valedictory function of the state-wide ‘Puthuyuga Yatra’ led by Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan as part of the Congress-led UDF’s preparations for the upcoming Assembly elections, Gandhi said, “The same way Trump is controlling Modi, the Prime Minister is controlling the Chief Minister of Kerala."
Announcing five guarantees for the people of poll-bound Kerala, he said, “The first guarantee is free travel for all women in KSRTC buses."
The other guarantees announced by him were a monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 for college-going girl students, increase of welfare pension to Rs 3,000 per month, a new health insurance scheme worth Rs 25 lakh coverage for every household in the name of former chief minister Oommen Chandy and interest-free loans of up to Rs 5 lakh for youngsters who want to start businesses.
In addition, he said a dedicated ministry would be created for the welfare of senior citizens.
Launching a scathing attack on Pinarayi Vijayan, Gandhi said PM Modi is "controlling the Chief Minister".
He alleged that even CPI(M) workers were aware of this and would admit it.
“I want to understand why the CBI and ED take action against opposition politicians but do not take action against the Chief Minister of Kerala,” he said.
Gandhi said there were 36 cases against him and that he was interrogated by the Enforcement Directorate for 55 hours.
“Why has the ED taken no action against the Chief Minister and his family? The reason is they are working together,” he alleged.
According to him, in Kerala, it was not the CPI(M) and BJP, but the “CJP” that was working together to defeat the UDF.
Gandhi also accused the LDF government of "functioning in the interests of big corporates".
“This is the most corporatist government Kerala has ever seen. It is against the interests of workers, small businesses and farmers and is working for the interests of the biggest businessmen,” he alleged.
He said the CPI should be renamed the “Corporate Party of India”.
“At least stand for what you say you are,” he said.
Referring to the alleged gold theft at Sabarimala temple, Gandhi claimed that the investigation was prevented from reaching the top leadership.
“Don’t worry, we will take strict action against those who dishonoured Sabarimala."
He also alleged that the LDF government had created a serious unemployment situation in the state.
“Modi has destroyed the employment system in India and the CPI(M) has destroyed it in Kerala,” he said.
Taking on the Centre, Gandhi alleged that the Prime Minister had “let the country down”.
“He has betrayed the country,” Gandhi said.
He said he was using the word deliberately and believed the Prime Minister had "betrayed the country" by signing the trade deal with the United States.
Gandhi claimed that the consequences of the agreement would be borne by the people of India.
“No Prime Minister before him opened our agriculture to American agriculture. Large American mechanised firms are going to compete with small Indian labour-intensive firms,” he said.
He said the deal would lead to devastation for farmers cultivating crops such as cotton, corn, pulses, fruits and soybeans.
Gandhi also claimed that the Prime Minister had "compromised" the country’s energy security.
“Imagine the Prime Minister of India committing to President Trump that we will buy oil from where America wants us to. Imagine a country as powerful as ours having to take permission from the US if we want to buy oil from Russia,” he said.
Referring to the trade deal, he said the US could extract data from India, which he described as the "most valuable asset" in the era of artificial intelligence.
“AI is all about data and India, with 1.4 billion people, is the largest producer of data. All of it has been signed away by Prime Minister Modi,” he alleged.
Earlier in the day, during a dialogue with the Information Technology (IT) Fraternity at Technopark here, Gandhi said that if India had said that its data was the most valuable in the world, there would have been no taxes on agriculture or on small and medium businesses.
He claimed that, except him speaking out against it, there was "not a peep" in India when its data was "handed over" to the US as part of the deal signed by the central government.
During his interaction with the tech professionals, the LoP in Lok Sabha also said that China has built a "superb and unmatched" industrial system in the world, but the neighbouring nation was "coercive and undemocratic".
He was also concerned that China dominated the electric motors and batteries technology which saw wide usage in the Ukraine-Russia war and the ongoing conflict in West Asia.
"That is a huge problem," he said, adding that he was confident that if aligned properly, an Indian company can take on the Chinese in that space.
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