- Egyptian president ‘rejects’ effort to push Palestinians to Egypt, warns it could jeopardize peace with Israel Fox News
- Why Egypt and other Arab countries are unwilling to take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza The Associated Press
- Egyptian President Sisi says forced displacement of Palestinians by Israel ‘cannot be implemented’ Al Jazeera English
- Egypt’s president says Israel can transfer Palestinians in Gaza to Negev desert Middle East Eye
- Egypt’s Sisi rejects Gaza refugee influx, blames Israel for aid block Al-Monitor
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Tag Archives: Egyptian
Protective childbirth tattoos found on ancient Egyptian mummies
Lower back tattoos may seem like an early 21st century fad popularized by low-rise-jeans clad celebrities, but new archaeological evidence from Egyptian mummies shows the practice is actually more than three millennia old.
At the New Kingdom site of Deir el-Medina (1550 B.C. to 1070 B.C.), researchers Anne Austin and Marie-Lys Arnette have discovered that tattoos on ancient flesh and tattooed figurines from the site are likely connected with the ancient Egyptian god Bes, who protected women and children, particularly during childbirth. They published their findings last month in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (opens in new tab).
Deir el-Medina (opens in new tab) lies on the western bank of the Nile, across from the archaeological site of Luxor. Beginning in 1922, around the same time that King Tut‘s tomb was found, the site was excavated by a French team. Known in the New Kingdom period as Set-Ma’at (“Place of Truth”), this was a planned community, a large neighborhood with rectangular gridded streets and housing for the workers responsible for building tombs for the Egyptian rulers. While the men would leave for days at a time to work on the tombs, women and children lived in the village of Deir el-Medina. An important feature of the site is the so-called Great Pit, an ancient dump full of pay stubs, receipts and letters on papyrus that have helped archaeologists better understand the lives of the common people.
Related: Ötzi the Iceman’s tattoos may have been a primitive form of acupuncture
But nothing in the Great Pit mentions the practice of tattooing, so the discovery of at least six tattooed women at Deir el-Medina was surprising. “It can be rare and difficult to find evidence for tattoos because you need to find preserved and exposed skin,” study lead author Anne Austin (opens in new tab), a bioarchaeologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, told Live Science in an email. “Since we would never unwrap mummified people, our only chances of finding tattoos are when looters have left skin exposed and it is still present for us to see millennia after a person died.”
The new evidence that Austin discovered came from two tombs that she and her team examined in 2019. Human remains from one tomb included a left hip bone of a middle-aged woman. On the preserved skin, patterns of dark black coloration were visible, creating an image that, if symmetrical, would have run along the woman’s lower back. Just to the left of the horizontal lines of the tattoo is a depiction of Bes and a bowl, imagery related to ritual purification during the weeks after childbirth.
The second tattoo comes from a middle-aged woman discovered in a nearby tomb. In this case, infrared photography revealed a tattoo that is difficult to see with the naked eye. A reconstruction drawing of this tattoo reveals a wedjat, or Eye of Horus, and a possible image of Bes wearing a feathered crown; both images suggest that this tattoo was related to protection and healing. And the zigzag line pattern may represent a marsh, which ancient medical texts associated with cooling waters used to relieve pain from menstruation or childbirth, according to Austin.
In addition, three clay figurines depicting women’s bodies that were found at Deir el-Medina decades ago were reexamined by study co-author Marie-Lys Arnette (opens in new tab), an Egyptologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who suggested that they too show tattoos on the lower back and upper thighs that include depictions of Bes.
The researchers concluded in their paper that “when placed in context with New Kingdom artifacts and texts, these tattoos and representations of tattoos would have visually connected with imagery referencing women as sexual partners, pregnant, midwives, and mothers participating in the post-partum rituals used for protection of the mother and child.”
Sonia Zakrzewski (opens in new tab), a bioarchaeologist at the University of Southampton University in the U.K. who was not involved in the current study, told Live Science in an email that “the newly described tattoos are extremely intricate relative to earlier Egyptian tattoo practices,” and that “images of pregnant women are extremely rare in Egyptian art.” Because childbirth and fertility of the soil were linked in Egyptian thought, Zakrzewski suggested that “these tattoos are imprinting protective representations — including of gods — on their body, almost like the person has their own portable magical amulet with them.”
Tattooing in Deir el-Medina is even more common than people realized, according to Austin, though it is unknown how widespread it may have been elsewhere in Egypt during that period. “I’m hopeful more scholars will find evidence of tattooing so that we can see if what is happening in this village is unique or part of a broader tradition in ancient Egypt that we simply haven’t discovered yet,” she said.
Brain injury patients’ lives are being saved thanks to ancient Egyptian operation
Brain injury patients’ lives are saved thanks to ancient Egyptian-style operation where a hole is drilled into their skull to reduce swelling
- Op that dates from days of the pharaohs could save thousands who suffer brain injuries every year
- It involves making a hole in skull to ease swelling and pressure on the brain – in a similar procedure to one used by ancient Egyptians as a religious ritual
- Study has found patients who have the surgery – decompressive craniectomy – are a fifth more likely to survive than those given standard medication
An operation that dates from the days of the pharaohs could save thousands who suffer brain injuries every year.
It involves making a hole in the skull to ease swelling and pressure on the brain – in a similar procedure to one used by ancient Egyptians as a religious ritual.
A new study has found that patients who have the surgery, called a decompressive craniectomy, are a fifth more likely to survive than those given standard medication.
Professor Peter Hutchinson, a consultant neurosurgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, who led on the study, said: ‘Without any doubt, the operation can save lives.’
An operation that dates from the days of the pharaohs could save thousands who suffer brain injuries every year. It involves making a hole in the skull to ease swelling and pressure on the brain – in a similar procedure to one used by ancient Egyptians as a religious ritual
Some 160,000 Britons are admitted to hospital each year with brain injuries, often caused by traffic collisions and falls.
When the brain is injured, fluid can collect inside the skull, causing pressure that can restrict the blood supply. Eventually brain cells begin to die, causing memory loss, paralysis and even death.
Patients are usually treated with drugs, but if these don’t work, doctors may opt for a procedure called a ventriculostomy, in which a tube is inserted through a hole made in the skull to drain excess fluid.
Some 160,000 Britons are admitted to hospital each year with brain injuries, often caused by traffic collisions and falls
In a craniectomy, a larger 5in hole is made in the back of the skull and part of the membrane surrounding the brain is removed, instantly reducing pressure.
The skin is then stitched back over the hole. Once the injury has healed, the hole in the skull is covered with a titanium plate.
Previous research suggested that decompressive craniectomy carries a high risk of leaving patients disabled, but in a new study of 408 patients, published in the journal JAMA Neurology, patients who underwent craniectomy were 21 per cent more likely to survive for two years than those treated with drugs, and were more likely to make a good recovery.
Russell Ramplin, 42, from Ipswich, had a craniectomy in 2020 after a motorbike crash. He has since made a near full recovery and earlier this year he had the missing section of his skull replaced with a titanium plate at Addenbrooke’s.
He says: ‘I’m back on my feet again. I’ve got a job, a place to live and I’ve got no pain.
‘It saved my life. I’m sure it could save others.’
Egyptian mummy of Amenhotep I is ‘digitally unwrapped’
CAIRO — Egyptian scientists have unwrapped a 3,500-year-old royal mummy without peeling away a single layer of embalming linen.
Instead, they used advanced X-ray technology and computerized tomography scanning to catch a glimpse of King Amenhotep I’s mummified body and the secrets it has harbored for millennia.
“For the first time we can know information about the mummy without disturbing the mummy,” according to Zahi Hawass, a prominent Egyptologist and one of the scientists involved in the research.
The findings were published Tuesday in a study co-authored by Hawass and Dr. Sahar Saleem, a radiology professor at Cairo University’s department of medicine. Using scanning technology, researchers were able to see the face of the ancient king. They also learned his age, height and how healthy he was when he died.
The 3D images generated by the study showed that Amenhotep I had an oval face with a narrow chin, small nose and mildly protruding upper teeth.
He was around 35 at time of death, researchers established based on the analysis of his bones, and was in general good health, with no diseases or injuries appearing to indicate how he died. His teeth were also remarkably intact, researchers found.
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The study also revealed that Amenhotep I’s brain was not removed during the mummification process, unlike most of the kings of the modern kingdom such as Tutankhamun and Ramses II, and he was buried with 30 amulets and a belt with golden beads.
Amenhotep I ruled Egypt for about 21 years between 1525 to 1504 B.C. His original tomb has never been located, but his mummy was found reburied in Luxor in 1881.
The CT technology employed is normally used in clinical settings to scan the bodies of living humans, Saleem told NBC News via WhatsApp on Tuesday. But it can also help study mummies in a nondisruptive way.
“Nowadays we do not physically unwrap mummies anymore,” Saleem, who is based in the capital, Cairo, said. “We preserve our heritage and study them with non-invasive techniques.”
With Amenhotep I, Saleem said they took thousands of very thin CT image cross-sections of the mummy. When combined, the images formed a complete 3D reconstruction of the king’s body, she said.
“Like slices of toast, when put together, make a full loaf of bread,” Saleem said. “The technique enabled me to digitally remove the wrapping to visualize the amulets in between the layers, and to visualize the face of the mummy.”
Hawass, who is also based in Cairo, said it’s not the first time a mummy has been scanned digitally, but it’s the first comprehensive analysis of its kind.
In an audio message sent via WhatsApp, he said he hoped to use the same technology soon.
“We are planning now to do the same type of a study to all the royal mummies,” Hawass said.
Charlene Gubash reported from Cairo. Yuliya Talmazan reported from London.
Three people stung to death and over 500 injured as biblical storms wash scorpions into Egyptian streets
Scorpions washed into homes by heavy rain stung three people to death and left 500 injured in Egypt.
Hail and thunderstorms along the River Nile swept the scorpions, as well as snakes, away from their usual hiding places in the city of Aswan.
Terrifying video shows scorpions try to make it into one house as the flood water rises.
Egypt is home to fat-tailed scorpions that are among the most deadly in the world and can kill humans in under an hour.
The governor of the local region Ashraf Attia said at least 503 people were hospitalized after suffering scorpion stings.
Schools have been ordered to close to protect children from the scorpions and snakes.
Professor at Agricultural Research Center Ahmed Rizk told the newspaper that heavy rains wash away scorpions and snakes.
The creatures then look to find new hiding places so they head to houses, particularly on high ground.
All of them were discharged after they were given anti-venom doses.
Extra doses of anti-venom have been provided to medical centers in villages near mountains and deserts.
After being stung by a fat-tailed scorpion victims experience breathing difficulties, muscle twitching and unusual head movements.
Anti-venom can prevent symptoms and can also work once they start to worsen.
Prof Rizk explained that victims have to tie a piece of cloth firmly near the bite to block the venom from reaching the heart.
Doctors have been pulled away from giving Covid vaccinations to treat scorpion stings, a local official said.
The extreme weather also caused power cuts and brought down street lamps and trees.
Egyptian weather forecasters have said rainfall is set to continue for the coming days over parts of South Sinai and the south of the country.
Ship stuck in Suez Canal “successfully refloated,” Egyptian officials say
Suez, Egypt — The colossal container ship that spent almost a week wedged across the Suez Canal was “successfully refloated” and on the move again on Monday, according to Egypt’s canal authority and an agency that helps run the shipping channel, but it was unclear when the logjam of ships at either end of the critical waterway might be cleared.
A statement posted on Monday morning to the Egyptian government’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA), attributed to chairman and director Admiral Osama Rabie, said the MV Ever Given “has been successfully refloated. This was the result of successful push and tow maneuvers which led to the restoration of 80% of the vessel’s direction.”
Suez Canal Authority
High tide later on Monday morning appeared to help crews move the hulking ship back into the center of the canal, and a statement posted online by the Leth agency, which provides myriad services for the canal in partnership with the SCA, said later that the Ever Given was “now underway to Great Bitter Lake,” a holding lake in the middle of the canal. That northerly movement suggested that all canal traffic could soon resume, and the SCA said it would hold a news conference at 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. Eastern) to give an update on the movement of other vessels.
“His Excellency, Admiral Rabie, would like to reassure the international navigation society as navigation shall be resumed immediately upon the complete restoration of the vessel’s direction and directing it to the Bitter Lakes waiting area for technical inspection,” the SCA said in its earlier statement.
There was no immediate confirmation of reports that other vessels had begun transiting the canal again with the Ever Given making its way toward the Great Bitter Lake.
As CBS News correspondent Charlie D’Agata reports, even when the canal does open back up, the backup has already caused significant disruption.
“Even when it starts to flow again there’s going to be some days to clear that backlog, so you got those knock on effects all the way through the supply chain,” said Guy Platten, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Shipping. “You’ve got to remember that ships carry just about everything from medical equipment to food to grain to fuel to all the other things in between.”
Global marine services provider Inchcape Shipping was the first to say the Ever Given had been freed early on Monday morning. Inchcape said in a tweet that the Ever Given was “being secured at the moment. More information about next steps will follow once they are known.” The tweet included a diagram appearing to show the ship partially straightened.
Nearly a week ago, the skyscraper-sized Ever Given got stuck sideways in the crucial waterway, creating a massive traffic jam. The obstruction has been holding up $9 billion each day in global trade and straining supply chains already burdened by the coronavirus pandemic.
As of Monday, 367 vessels, carrying everything from crude oil to cattle, were still waiting to pass through the canal, while dozens more are taking the alternate route around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s southern tip, adding around two weeks to journeys and threatening delivery delays.
The freeing of the vessel came after intensive efforts to push and pull the vessel with 10 tugboats when the full moon brought spring tide, Leth Agencies said, raising the canal’s water level and hopes for a breakthrough.
Mohamed Elshahed/AP
Overnight, several dredgers had toiled to vacuum up 27,000 cubic meters of sand and mud around the ship. Another powerful tugboat, Carlo Magno, was racing to the scene to join the efforts.
Although the vessel is vulnerable to damage in its current position, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the company that owns the Ever Given, dismissed concerns on Monday, saying that the ship’s engine was functional and it could pursue its trip normally when freed.
Canal authorities have desperately tried to free the vessel by relying on tugs and dredgers alone, even as analysts warned that 1,300-feet-long ship, weighing some 220,000 tons, may be too heavy for such an operation. As a window for a breakthrough narrowed with high tide receding this week, fears had grown that authorities would be forced to lighten the vessel by removing some of the ship’s 20,000 containers — a complex operation, requiring specialized equipment not found in Egypt, that could take days or weeks.
Ship stuck in Suez Canal “successfully refloated,” Egyptian officials say
Suez, Egypt — The colossal container ship that’s been wedged across the Suez Canal for almost a week was “successfully refloated” as of Monday morning, according the chairman of Egypt’s canal authority, but it was unclear when shipping through the critical waterway would resume.
A statement posted to the Egyptian government’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA), attributed to chairman and director Admiral Osama Rabie, said the MV Ever Given “has been successfully refloated. This was the result of successful push and tow maneuvers which led to the restoration of 80% of the vessel’s direction.”
The SCA said the stern of the hulking cargo ship was now positioned about 335 feet from the bank of the canal, whereas it had previously been stuck only about 15 feet from the bank.
High tide was expected at 11:30 a.m. local time (5:30 a.m. Eastern), which the SCA said would allow “for the full restoration of the vessel’s direction so it is positioned in the middle of the navigable waterway.”
“His Excellency, Admiral Rabie, would like to reassure the international navigation society as navigation shall be resumed immediately upon the complete restoration of the vessel’s direction and directing it to the Bitter Lakes waiting area for technical inspection,” the agency said, suggesting that other ships would be permitted to start transiting the canal as soon as the Ever Given was on the move again.
CBS/Satellite photo credit: CNES/AIRBUS DS via REUTERS
The ship was wedged several miles north of the canal’s southern entrance from the Red Sea, and it wasn’t clear how long it would take crews to move it — under its own power or by tub boats — to the Bitter Lakes, a large holding area in the middle of the canal, which would allow other vessels to navigate around it. As soon as the Ever Given is underway, however, the SCA could let other ships start entering from the south, and declare the canal open.
The CEO of the parent company of Smit Salvage, which has been involved in efforts to free the Ever Given, cautioned earlier on Monday, however, that getting the ship fully back into the navigation channel might not be “a piece of cake.” The Reuters news agency quoted Boskalis CEO Peter Berdowski as telling Dutch Public Radio that a new tug would arrive and water would be sent under the ship’s bow to help free it, but if that doesn’t work, some containers on the Ever Given might still have to be removed to lighten it up.
Mohab Mamish, a presidential adviser for canal projects and former SCA chief, was also optimistic on Monday, however, telling CBS News that the ship was fully refloated and being examined to determine when it can be positioned to unclog the logjam it created.
Global marine services provider Inchcape Shipping was the first to say the Ever Given had been freed. Inchcape said in a tweet that the Ever Given was “being secured at the moment. More information about next steps will follow once they are known.” The tweet included a diagram appearing to show the ship partially straightened.
Nearly a week ago, the skyscraper-sized Ever Given got stuck sideways in the crucial waterway, creating a massive traffic jam. The obstruction has been holding up $9 billion each day in global trade and straining supply chains already burdened by the coronavirus pandemic.
Mohamed Elshahed/AP
As of Monday, 367 vessels, carrying everything from crude oil to cattle, were still waiting to pass through the canal, while dozens more are taking the alternate route around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s southern tip, adding around two weeks to journeys and threatening delivery delays.
The freeing of the vessel came after intensive efforts to push and pull the vessel with 10 tugboats when the full moon brought spring tide, Leth Agencies said, raising the canal’s water level and hopes for a breakthrough.
Overnight, several dredgers had toiled to vacuum up 27,000 cubic meters of sand and mud around the ship. Another powerful tugboat, Carlo Magno, was racing to the scene to join the efforts.
Although the vessel is vulnerable to damage in its current position, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the company that owns the Ever Given, dismissed concerns on Monday, saying that the ship’s engine was functional and it could pursue its trip normally when freed.
Canal authorities have desperately tried to free the vessel by relying on tugs and dredgers alone, even as analysts warned that 1,300-feet-long ship, weighing some 220,000 tons, may be too heavy for such an operation. As a window for a breakthrough narrowed with high tide receding this week, fears had grown that authorities would be forced to lighten the vessel by removing some of the ship’s 20,000 containers — a complex operation, requiring specialized equipment not found in Egypt, that could take days or weeks.
Cargo ship still stuck across Suez Canal, but Egyptian official says it will be freed over weekend
Cairo — Marine traffic through the Suez Canal remained blocked on Friday for the fourth consecutive day, with dozens of ships stuck at both the north and south entrances to the shortest route between Asia and Europe. Efforts to dislodge one of the world’s largest cargo vessels, stuck sideways across the narrow canal since Tuesday, were picking up, and while one of the teams in charge of the operation said it could take weeks, an advisor to Egypt’s president offered a more optimistic time table.
Mohab Mamish, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s advisor on seaports and the former chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, told the AFP news agency on Thursday that navigation through the canal “will resume again within 48-72 hours, maximum.”
Suez Canal Authority
Mamish cited his “experience with several rescue operations of this kind” and said he knew “every centimeter of the canal.”
The SCA announced earlier this week that all navigation through the canal would be “temporarily suspended” until the hulking Panamanian-flagged container vessel MV Ever Given could be re-floated.
The SCA said Thursday after meeting with the Dutch salvage firm SMIT, which is helping lead the operation, that about 19,600-26,000 cubic yards of sand had to be moved, reaching a depth of 40 to 50 feet along the canal’s bank, to dislodge the ship.
On Wednesday the SCA allowed 13 ships to enter the canal’s northern end, from the Mediterranean, hoping the Ever Given would be un-stuck quickly and the other cargo vessels would be able to continue on their journeys. But those ships only made it as far as a lake in the middle of the canal, and they may be going nowhere fast.
Egypt is using at least eight large tugboats and excavation equipment on the banks of the canal, but so far all efforts to refloat the nearly-quarter-of-a-mile-long, 247,000-ton container ship have failed.
Suez Canal Authority
The SCA said Thursday that an “alternative scenario” was being adopted, with the vessels that entered the canal from the north on Wednesday “dropping anchor in the Bitter Lakes waiting area, until navigation can be fully resumed.”
Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corp, which is operating the ship on a lease on behalf of the Japanese company that owns it, hired the Dutch firm Smit Salvage and Japan’s Nippon Salvage to work with the vessel’s captain and the Suez Canal Authority to figure out how to re-float it.
Peter Berdowski, CEO of the Dutch company Boskalis that owns Smit Salvage, said Thursday that it was still too early to determine how long the job might take.
“We can’t exclude it might take weeks, depending on the situation,” Berdowski told the Dutch television program “Nieuwsuur,” according to Reuters. Shipping sources told Reuters that if the delays continue, ships could potentially start re-routing around the southern tip of Africa, which adds thousands of miles and about a week to the journey.
CBS News / Satellite photo credit: CNES/AIRBUS DS via REUTERS
The Japanese company that owns the Ever Given, Shoei Kisen, told The Associated Press that it was cooperating with the local authorities, but “the operation is extremely difficult.”
“We are extremely sorry for causing tremendous worry to the ships that are traveling or scheduled to travel in the Suez Canal, and all the related people,” the company said.
As much as 30% of the world’s shipping container freight typically passes through the Suez Canal every day — a journey that takes around six hours — amounting to about 12% of the total goods traded globally, according to Reuters.
The news agency cited industry consultancy Kpler as saying that while the canal only facilitates the transit of about 4.4% of the world’s total flow of oil products, a prolonged disruption could impact supplies to Asia and Europe, and an impact on global oil prices appeared inevitable.
Meanwhile, the incident — and in particular the fact that a single, albeit very large ship has disrupted global trade, and a photo of the ship’s hull dwarfing a lone excavator sent to try and dislodge it — has inspired a wealth of memes on social media. CBS’ own “salty” Stephen Colbert even donned a captain’s hat to dissect the maritime disaster on his Wednesday evening show.
While the fun continues online, stress levels will no doubt continue increasing for both the ship’s owners, who have to foot the bill for the salvage operation, and the Egyptian canal authority, which was already suffering from a drop in revenue thanks to the COVID pandemic.
Cargo ship still stuck across Suez Canal, but Egyptian official says it will be freed over weekend
Cairo — Marine traffic through the Suez Canal remained blocked on Friday for the fourth consecutive day, with dozens of ships stuck at both the north and south entrances to the shortest route between Asia and Africa. Efforts to dislodge one of the world’s largest cargo vessels, stuck sideways across the narrow canal since Tuesday, were picking up, and while one of the teams in charge of the operation said it could take weeks, an advisor to Egypt’s president offered a more optimistic time table.
Mohab Mamish, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s advisor on seaports and the former chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, told the AFP news agency on Thursday that navigation through the canal “will resume again within 48-72 hours, maximum.”
Suez Canal Authority
Mamish cited his “experience with several rescue operations of this kind” and said he knew “every centimeter of the canal.”
The SCA announced earlier this week that all navigation through the canal would be “temporarily suspended” until the hulking Panamanian-flagged container vessel MV Ever Given could be re-floated.
The SCA said Thursday after meeting with the Dutch salvage firm SMIT, which is helping lead the operation, that about 19,600-26,000 cubic yards of sand had to be moved, reaching a depth of 40 to 50 feet along the canal’s bank, to dislodge the ship.
On Wednesday the SCA allowed 13 ships to enter the canal’s northern end, from the Mediterranean, hoping the Ever Given would be un-stuck quickly and the other cargo vessels would be able to continue on their journeys. But those ships only made it as far as a lake in the middle of the canal, and they may be going nowhere fast.
Egypt is using at least eight large tugboats and excavation equipment on the banks of the canal, but so far all efforts to refloat the nearly-quarter-of-a-mile-long, 247,000-ton container ship have failed.
Suez Canal Authority
The SCA said Thursday that an “alternative scenario” was being adopted, with the vessels that entered the canal from the north on Wednesday “dropping anchor in the Bitter Lakes waiting area, until navigation can be fully resumed.”
Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corp, which is operating the ship on a lease on behalf of the Japanese company that owns it, hired the Dutch firm Smit Salvage and Japan’s Nippon Salvage to work with the vessel’s captain and the Suez Canal Authority to figure out how to re-float it.
Peter Berdowski, CEO of the Dutch company Boskalis that owns Smit Salvage, said Thursday that it was still too early to determine how long the job might take.
“We can’t exclude it might take weeks, depending on the situation,” Berdowski told the Dutch television program “Nieuwsuur,” according to Reuters. Shipping sources told Reuters that if the delays continue, ships could potentially start re-routing around the southern tip of Africa, which adds thousands of miles and about a week to the journey.
CBS News / Satellite photo credit: CNES/AIRBUS DS via REUTERS
The Japanese company that owns the Ever Given, Shoei Kisen, told The Associated Press that it was cooperating with the local authorities, but “the operation is extremely difficult.”
“We are extremely sorry for causing tremendous worry to the ships that are traveling or scheduled to travel in the Suez Canal, and all the related people,” the company said.
As much as 30% of the world’s shipping container freight typically passes through the Suez Canal every day — a journey that takes around six hours — amounting to about 12% of the total goods traded globally, according to Reuters.
The news agency cited industry consultancy Kpler as saying that while the canal only facilitates the transit of about 4.4% of the world’s total flow of oil products, a prolonged disruption could impact supplies to Asia and Europe, and an impact on global oil prices appeared inevitable.
Meanwhile, the incident — and in particular the fact that a single, albeit very large ship has disrupted global trade, and a photo of the ship’s hull dwarfing a lone excavator sent to try and dislodge it — has inspired a wealth of memes on social media. CBS’ own “salty” Stephen Colbert even donned a captain’s hat to dissect the maritime disaster on his Wednesday evening show.
While the fun continues online, stress levels will no doubt continue increasing for both the ship’s owners, who have to foot the bill for the salvage operation, and the Egyptian canal authority, which was already suffering from a drop in revenue thanks to the COVID pandemic.
Cargo ship still stuck across Suez Canal, but Egyptian official says it will be freed over weekend
Cairo — Marine traffic through the Suez Canal remained blocked on Friday for the fourth consecutive day, with dozens of ships stuck at both the north and south entrances to the shortest route between Asia and Africa. Efforts to dislodge one of the world’s largest cargo vessels, stuck sideways across the narrow canal since Tuesday, were picking up, and while one of the teams in charge of the operation said it could take weeks, an advisor to Egypt’s president offered a more optimistic time table.
Mohab Mamish, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s advisor on seaports and the former chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, told the AFP news agency on Thursday that navigation through the canal “will resume again within 48-72 hours, maximum.”
Suez Canal Authority
Mamish cited his “experience with several rescue operations of this kind” and said he knew “every centimeter of the canal.”
The SCA announced earlier this week that all navigation through the canal would be “temporarily suspended” until the hulking Panamanian-flagged container vessel MV Ever Given could be re-floated.
Suez Canal Authority
The SCA said Thursday after meeting with the Dutch salvage firm SMIT, which is helping lead the operation, that about 15,000 to 20,000 cubic metres of sand had to be moved, reaching a depth of 12 to 16 meters along the canal’s bank, to dislodge the ship.
On Wednesday the SCA allowed 13 ships to enter the canal’s northern end, from the Mediterranean, hoping the Ever Given would be un-stuck quickly and the other cargo vessels would be able to continue on their journeys. But those ships only made it as far as a lake in the middle of the canal, and they may be going nowhere fast.
Egypt is using at least eight large tugboats and excavation equipment on the banks of the canal, but so far all efforts to refloat the nearly-quarter-of-a-mile-long, 247,000-ton container ship have failed.
The SCA said Thursday that an “alternative scenario” was being adopted, with the vessels that entered the canal from the north on Wednesday “dropping anchor in the Bitter Lakes waiting area, until navigation can be fully resumed.”
Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corp, which is operating the ship on a lease on behalf of the Japanese company that owns it, hired the Dutch firm Smit Salvage and Japan’s Nippon Salvage to work with the vessel’s captain and the Suez Canal Authority to figure out how to re-float it.
Peter Berdowski, CEO of the Dutch company Boskalis that owns Smit Salvage, said Thursday that it was still too early to determine how long the job might take.
“We can’t exclude it might take weeks, depending on the situation,” Berdowski told the Dutch television program “Nieuwsuur,” according to Reuters. Shipping sources told Reuters that if the delays continue, ships could potentially start re-routing around the southern tip of Africa, which adds thousands of miles and about a week to the journey.
The Japanese company that owns the Ever Given, Shoei Kisen, told The Associated Press that it was cooperating with the local authorities, but “the operation is extremely difficult.”
“We are extremely sorry for causing tremendous worry to the ships that are traveling or scheduled to travel in the Suez Canal, and all the related people,” the company said.
As much as 30% of the world’s shipping container freight typically passes through the Suez Canal every day — a journey that takes around six hours — amounting to about 12% of the total goods traded globally, according to Reuters.
The news agency cited industry consultancy Kpler as saying that while the canal only facilitates the transit of about 4.4% of the world’s total flow of oil products, a prolonged disruption could impact supplies to Asia and Europe, and an impact on global oil prices appeared inevitable.
Meanwhile, the incident — and in particular the fact that a single, albeit very large ship has disrupted global trade, and a photo of the ship’s hull dwarfing a lone excavator sent to try and dislodge it — has inspired a wealth of memes on social media. CBS’ own “salty” Stephen Colbert even donned a captain’s hat to dissect the maritime disaster on his Wednesday evening show.
While the fun continues online, stress levels will no doubt continue increasing for both the ship’s owners, who have to foot the bill for the salvage operation, and the Egyptian canal authority, which was already suffering from a drop in revenue thanks to the COVID pandemic.