Tag: Egypt

Suez Canal: Remarkable increase in tonnage and number of transits

State of emergency declared throughout Egypt

Vessel Searches in Egypt

Update on Emma Maersk

Emma Maersk faced leakage in Suez Canal earlier this month - situation is under control Emma Maersk, one of the world's biggest container ships, in Port Said after suffering damage near the Suez Canal (Photo Credit: Maersk Line)On 1 February 2013, Emma Maersk, Maersk Line's largest container vessel, experienced ingress of water into the engine room. The vessel had just commenced its southbound transit through the Suez Canal en route to Asia. The captain decided to terminate the planned voyage and go alongside the nearby Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT).According to Captain Marius Gardastovu, there was never any real danger or panic at any point. "Of course it is a shocking experience when you look back and consider what could have happened," he says. "But given the circumstances, everything was handled as well as possible because of a close-knit crew who knew exactly what to do."She was loaded with containers equivalent to 13,537 TEU of which 6,425 were full. The first step was to identify the cargo onboard. Cargo lists were shared with local Maersk Line customer service agents who have since reached out to all its customers with cargo onboard with the relevant information.Alternate routingsAlternative arrangements for the cargo ...

Company confirms that there is no risk of danger The biggest container vessel at the Port of Arhus. Photo by Rafik Fethallah / Maersk websitePalle Laursen, Head of Ship Management for Maersk Line, shares the latest update on the Emma Maersk incident that took place in the Suez Canal Friday evening. He explains that the investigation is still ongoing, and that repairs will take time.Initial inspections by divers show that the water ingress was caused by damage to one of the stern thrusters. Thrusters are used for improving the vessels manoeuvrability and consist of a shaft tunnel fitted with a propeller delivering sideways thrust. It is now known that several propeller blades have broken off and there is severe damage to the propeller mounting, resulting in a crack in the forward stern thruster tunnel which caused the ingress of water.The water flooded the engine room which consequently led to the loss of main engine power, and Emma Maersk was towed to the quay at Suez Canal Container Terminal.No risk of dangerWhile it is still unclear what caused the damage, Palle rules out any human error by the crew. "The crew handled the situation very well and did exactly what they ...

Emma Maersk faces leakage in Suez Canal

State of emergency in Egypt

Most Port Operations Continuing in Port Said, Ismailia and Suez

Egypt, the world's biggest wheat importer, said on Sunday it was looking to use Georgia's Poti port for shipments of Kazakh wheat once the port is upgraded to receive Panamax ships carrying shipments of 55-60,000 tonnes.Nomani Nomani, vice chairman of the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), told Reuters that the upgrade at Poti port should took place within a year according to Georgian officials."Once the port is ready to receive Panamax ships, GASC will approve this port as one of the seaports for shipments of Kazakh wheat," Nomani said.Nomani and Egyptian maritime officials visited Georgia late last month to discuss wheat shipments to Egypt through Poti port.Nomani added that Poti port would be equipped within two months to receive handysize ships carrying shipments of around 24-30,000 tonne shipments for the private sector.Egypt consumes around 14 million tonnes of wheat annually and imports around half of that amount.Since the start of the 2011/12 fiscal year last July, GASC's purchases have been dominated by Black Sea origin wheat.GASC has bought 3.24 million tonnes of Russian wheat, 360,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat, 180,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat, 60,000 tonnes of Russian, Ukrainian or Kazakh wheat at the seller's option and 60,000 tonnes ...