Suez Canal: reinforcements arrive for 'Ever Given' including giant tugs from Italy and Holland

Two more tugboats were on their way on Sunday to join efforts to refloat a massive container ship wedged across the Suez Canal since last week, blocking traffic in the vital trade route and disrupting global trade.

The Dutch-flagged Alp Guard and the Italian-flagged Carlo Magno are believed to have arrived near the city of Suez at the southern mouth of the Suez Canal.

The two tugs have a combined pulling power of almost 500 tonnes.

They will join a dozen other tug boats that have been involved in efforts, unsuccessful so far, to refloat the ship.

Sunday was expected to witness two attempts coinciding with tides to free the Panama-flagged, 400-metre-long Ever Given, the first about midday and a second time in the evening.

Repeated failures to refloat the 200,000-tonne vessel are likely to force the Suez Canal Authority, which manages the waterway, to resort to offloading the vessel, which is carrying 18,300 containers.

That delicate operation could take days to complete and will probably involve container ships equipped with suitable cranes.

“It is our last resort scenario,” the Suez Canal Authority's chief, Adm Osama Rabie, told a news conference on Saturday.

For now, hopes are pinned on the power of the two additional tugs as dredging operations continue, sucking sand from underneath the vessel.

In a statement issued on Sunday, he said the latest attempt to refloat the vessel on Saturday involved 12 tugboats, two pulling the front of the ship and 10 more pushing its rear southward.

Two new tugboats being built in a shipyard at Port Said, the coastal city on the northern tip of the canal, were due to join the effort. He did not give a precise date.

Also on Sunday, he said the main dredger has so far removed 27,000 cubic metres of sand, reaching a depth of 18 metres.

Workers have removed thousands of tonnes of ballast from the Ever Given and brought in more tugboats in an expanding effort to refloat the ship.

Adm Rabieh said 9,000 tonnes of ballast water were pumped out to lighten the vessel.

Fourteen tugboats, as well as dredgers, are now part of the operation and they could look to unload some weight off the vessel if the current efforts are not successful, Adm Rabieh said.

“We have to deal with difficult soil and strong tides in addition to the size of the boat, its height and the large number of containers it is carrying,” he said.

He declined to give a timetable for the refloating of the vessel.

“It is very difficult to give a precise time for resolving the problem,” he said.

In the meantime, ships continue to arrive at either end of the canal, waiting to pass.

Adm Rabieh said 321 ships were stuck in the canal and its lakes. He announced the closure of the waterway on Thursday.

The Ever Given ran aground on Tuesday in a narrow stretch of the canal just north of the city of Suez after it was blown off course by strong winds during a sandstorm. Two pilots from the canal authority were on board the Ever Given when it became stuck.

Initially, authorities and the operator said wind and a sandstorm pushed the ship off course and into the side of the canal.

However, Adm Rabieh on Saturday said that bad weather was not the only cause of the Ever Given running aground and that technical or human error could have contributed.

“When it comes to big accidents like this one, there is always more than one cause. The investigation could reveal a human error or a technical fault,” said Adm Rabieh. No formal investigation into how the accident occurred will begin before the ship is refloated and traffic returns to normal, he said.

Besides the Dutch-based Smit International, Japan’s Nippon Salvage is also participating in the refloating effort.

Canal authorities say nearly 20,000 cubic metres of sand must be dredged from around the ship for it to move.

At a press conference in Japan on Friday, Yukito Higaki, president of Shoei Kisen, which owns the Ever Given, said there were no signs of damage to its engines and instruments.

"The ship is not taking water. There is no problem with its rudders and propellers. Once it refloats, it should be able to operate," Mr Higaki said, according to Asahi Shimbun.

The blockage of the Suez, which links the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, has left hundreds of ships on both ends of the trade route waiting to pass through.

Some of those that were not already in the canal when the Ever Given ran aground are opting to take the much longer route around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope to Europe or Asia.

However, Adm Rabieh said the current crisis would not take away the edge of the Suez Canal as the shortest and more economic route between Asia and Europe.

“The route around the Cape of Good is not safe,” he said, alluding to piracy off the eastern coast of Africa.

The effect of delays has doubled shipping costs for oil-related products since the ship ran aground, experts said.

The blockage could cost global trade between $6 billion and $10bn a week, a study by German insurer Allianz showed on Friday.

"The problem is that the Suez Canal blockage is the straw that breaks global trade's back," the study's authors wrote.

Suez Canal crisis from space: shipping backlog in satellite images

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Rating: 4.5/5

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA

Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi

Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser

Rating: 4.5/5

Guide to intelligent investing

Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:

Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.

How has net migration to UK changed?

The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.

It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.

The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.

The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.

England v South Africa Test series:

First Test: at Lord's, England won by 211 runs

Second Test: at Trent Bridge, South Africa won by 340 runs

Third Test: at The Oval, July 27-31

Fourth Test: at Old Trafford, August 4-8

The 12 breakaway clubs

England

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur

Italy
AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus

Spain
Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid