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The stranded front of the ship
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There is a shortage of toilet paper, coffee and furniture worldwide
Thousands of animals loaded on at least 20 ships are in distress because of the shipwreck in the Suez Canal, the Guardian reported. There are fears that if the blockade lasts too long, the animals may starve or become dehydrated.
“My biggest fear is that the animals run out of food and water and get stuck on ships because they can’t be unloaded elsewhere on paper,” said Gerrit Weidinger, EU coordinator for the charity Animals International.
Among the blocked ships are 10 Romanians, loaded with at least 130,000 live animals.
Traffic through the Suez Canal has been blocked for several days after the giant container ship Ever Given got stuck in it, and attempts to release it have so far failed.
The bow of the ship is resting
on the east coast of Suez
channel, and his stern –
in the west
The Romanian Sanitary and Veterinary Service has convened a crisis meeting and solutions are being sought to prevent the animals from dying out. Authorities said they had contacted shipowners who assured them that they had sufficient stocks for the animals and that the vessels had desalination plants in place if drinking water ran out.
At the same time, two attempts to free the container ship failed despite hopes that a high tide would boost the ship. A dozen tugs work in parallel with dredging the sand and mud around the nose. About 9,000 tons of ballast water have already been removed from Ever Given, which has helped it move a bit. Hundreds of containers are planned to be removed from his nose with a crane.
The blocking of the Suez Canal by a skyscraper-sized cargo ship could worsen the global supply chain for months to come, causing a shortage of products such as toilet paper, coffee and furniture worldwide, experts say. About 10% of world trade passes through the canal, or about 10 billion dollars a day. The situation has caused huge losses, as every hour spent in the canal costs $ 400 million. The blockade also caused a 3% rise in oil prices.
“Europe must
prepare for appreciation and
shortage of a number of goods
because of the blockade of the Suez Canal “, predicts the analyst from the London Center for Economic and Business Studies Kai Neufeld. According to him, trade on the Asia-Europe axis will not be seriously disrupted if the key sea route is opened soon, but this is becoming less likely.
At the same time, Syria is facing fuel shortages due to the blockade. While they wait for traffic to recover, local authorities distribute the available quantities of petroleum products so that bakeries and hospitals can continue to operate.
There are virtually no alternative routes for the delivery of goods from Asia to Europe. As a result, imports into the United States from Europe may be delayed and the blockade could prevent empty containers from being returned to Asia, complicating the global container shortage caused by the pandemic and growing consumer demand.
Since its opening in 1869, the Suez Canal has been a key link for the transportation of oil, natural gas and other cargo. In 2015, the Egyptian government completed a major expansion of the canal, allowing even the largest ships to cross.
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