www.zerohedge.com By TYLER DURDEN
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) reports all of the 422 ships stranded following the grounding of the massive container ship, Ever Given, on the southern stretch of the canal, passed through Saturday, ending the logjam of vessels caused by the blockage.
Ever Given was grounded on Mar. 23, and it wasn’t ungrounded until Mar. 29, a total of about six days, when salvage teams freed the ship. All week, SCA boosted vessel flow through the canal above the average 50 per day to alleviate the traffic jam.
Osama Rabie, the chairman of the SCA, said a total of 80 vessels transited the canal on Friday. He said 85 ships were expected to pass through the canal on Saturday, therefore ending the shipping backlog.
Suez Canal Appears To Be NormalizingÂ
As a result of Ever Given, global supply chains were thrown into turmoil, already suffering from the virus pandemic’s hardships and amplified during unprecedented US fiscal stimulus, triggering one-sided trade with Asia.
Rabie told MBC Masr television on Friday that an investigation into why the container ship ran aground began on Wednesday.
“The investigation is going well and will take two more days, and then we will announce the results,” Rabie said.
Following the investigation, there is a mounting legal action for owners of goods on board Ever Given.
Already, shipping insurer Lloyd’s of London expects a “large loss” the could be more than $100 million. Fitch Ratings said the blockage is expected to dent global reinsurers’ earnings, already crushed by the virus pandemic disrupting global supply chains, winter storms in the US, and flooding in Australia. After the Suez crisis, marine reinsurance is expected to rise.
Between the grounding and ungrounding of the container ship, along with the logjam of ships, the entire episode lasted approximately 12 days, exposing the fragility of the global supply.
