Currently people claim that it will take two days to clear the canal from the ill fated container behemoth. I think the ship will still be in the news in April. I know nothing about ships, even less about the Suez Canal in specific. But the the thing has not moved in two days. News of it moving again was already floating around the Internets. But the thing itself appears to be firmly lodged in place. And, if you ask me, it will be for quiet some time. At 15km/h the ship will have travelled not at its top speed. But the thing is freaking huge. Its gross tonnage is 220 thousand. In comparison the 15 ships that got trapped in the Suez canal during the 1967 war had together a tonnage of just 129 thousand. The Ever Given is 400 meters long. The Suez canal is around 200 meters wide. Turning a ship around will not work. If you still try then the thing will get stuck. While moving forward. The Ever Given has lodged its nose deeply into Asia while its as has pushed heavily into Asia. Those 8 tug boats are cute. They can move a ship of a large size if it floats in water. If it sits in sand there is no way. The Ever Given sails with a full load of containers. Every ship that can get a hold of enough tin cans currently does. Containers are the limit. Crazy times in shipping. Even before this mishap. The tugs all they could. All the time. What didn’t move was the ship. So what is next?
You can try to dig out the ship. Did I mention that it is a big ship? It sits in the middle of the desert. Humans can move lots of earth. But not on short notice.
You can try to offload containers to reduce its weight. Good idea. Just how many do you need to offload? And how? Got a crane? Just getting that one in place will take a couple of days. You need to negotiate and organize that job.
So if you have a ship waiting on an end of the Suez Canal right now let me tell you: Have it go around Africa. Those extra 7 days will save you time in the end. March, 24th, 2020. I have been wrong before.