THOOTHUKUDI: The 400 metre-long ship 'Ever Given' blocking the Suez Canal connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean sea would disrupt the supply chain as the issue had coupled with the shortage of containers prevailing in Thoothukudi VO Chidambaranar port, said industrialists.
The 'Ever Given', owned by Taiwanese company Evergreen Marine, has been stuck at the southern end of the canal since Tuesday hampering the vessel movement between Europe and Asia. It was on the way to Rotterdam (The Netherlands) from China. 'Ever Given' is 400 metre-long and 59 meter-wide -- one of the largest cargo vessels in the world that can carry over 20,000 containers.
The vessel was stuck diagonally across the narrow passage following strong winds. Efforts are afoot to refloat the 2.19 lakh tonne vessel through dredging, tugging, and the removal of weight from it. Over 280 vessels are already waiting to pass the 193.3 km long marine passage that was constructed by Ferdinand De Lessep between Suez city and Port Said in 1869.
Even as the refloating measures are expected to go more than a week, the industrialists expressed a grim picture since it might hike freight charges. The issue also worried the industrialists and exporters in Thoothukudi, as they are already troubled by the shortage of the containers to parcel the cargo
post-Covid pandemic. The containers are stuffed through e-sealing at factories, and at Container Freight Stations (CFS), and at Inland Container Depots (ICD).
An official from a private CFS in Thoothukudi said that they get only containers for stuffing 45% of the cargo available. "In the place of stuffing 100 containers per day, we are able to stuff less than 50 containers now due to its unavailability," he said.
An official source from VOC Port told The New Indian Express that the container arrivals slowed down after the Colombo government reduced the transshipment of empty containers from the mother vessel terminal to the feeder vessel terminal in Colombo. "It was recovering after the Colombo crisis was over. But the container shortage might loom again due to the Suez canal issue," he added.
A shipping agent said that he has to deploy a truck for one day to source a container that was earlier available instantly. "We could source 20-foot containers in a day, but the 40-foot containers are very rare nowadays," he said.
The Tamil Nadu Match Manufacturers Association president Suresh said they have stopped exports through e-sealing due to the unavailability of containers. "The safety matches manufacturers have also ceased the production as costs of imported raw material increased owing to the increase of freight charges after the Covid pandemic", he said.
The Indian Chamber of Commerce vice president Edwin Samuel said the Suez Canal blockage and the container shortage had panicked the exporters and industrialists as container liners would increase the freight charges. The blockage will delay the imports and exports between India and Europe, and the
arrival of empty containers. It would take one month to regularise the disturbance to the scheduled export chart caused by the blockage, he added.
"The freight charges might go north several-fold if the cargo vessels are diverted to move around the African continent that would extend the voyage for 7,000 nautical miles and 10 days travel to reach Europe," said J David Raja, Convener, Logistics Panel, CII.