Sri Lanka has sufficient stocks of fuel for at least another two weeks, Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila said.
Speaking to the media, he said the blockage of Egypt’s Suez Canal by a giant container ship (Ever Given) would not have an impact on Sri Lanka’s oil supply.
“Sri Lanka’s next fuel shipment will be coming from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and not from any port close to the Suez Canal,” the Minister said.
As per the statistics, international oil prices rose about two per cent amid growing fears that it could take weeks to remove the ‘Ever Given’ container ship blocking the Suez Canal, which would hold up supplies of crude and refined products. The crisis entered the fifth day yesterday, with no immediate solution in sight.
Minister Gammanpila said the Government does not intend to increase the oil prices in the coming weeks. “Sri Lanka’s last fuel price increase was on September 1, 2019. The Government will not increase prices despite suffering losses,” he added.
The BBC and other news outlets reported that the blockage of Egypt’s Suez Canal by a giant container ship is causing a “traffic jam” in the Red Sea, according to a merchant seaman on a nearby ship.
Joe Reynolds, chief engineer of the Maersk Ohio, told the BBC the number of vessels (container ships and tankers) waiting at the Canal’s southern entrance was “growing exponentially”. “It’s going to affect shipping schedules around the world,” he warned. Tugboats and dredgers are trying to dislodge the Ever Given, which is wedged diagonally across the waterway. The 400m-long (1,300ft), 200,000-tonne vessel ran aground on Tuesday morning amid high winds and a sandstorm that affected visibility.
Specialist salvage companies have been brought in to help refloat the ship, and an adviser to Egypt’s President has said he hopes the situation will be resolved within two to three days. But experts have said it could take weeks if some or all of the vessel’s 20,000 containers need to be removed. Experts say the loss to the global economy from the Suez impasse will be close to US$ 10 billion.
Completed in 1869, the 194 Km-long Suez Canal is one of the most vital shipping lanes that connects the East and the West. it is the only place that directly connects the waters of Europe with the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the countries of the Asia-Pacific. Without the Suez, shipments traveling between those parts of the world would have to traverse the entire continent of Africa, adding hefty costs and substantially extending their journey times.
The time saved by the passage is almost invaluable. Today, a ship traveling from a port in Italy to India, for instance, would cover around 4,400 nautical miles if it passed through the Suez Canal -- a journey that, at a speed of 20 knots, would take about nine days. But the second-quickest way to complete that same journey would be via the Cape of Good Hope and around Africa. At the same speed, it would take three weeks to traverse the route, which is 10,500 nautical miles long. The canal’s strategically important position means it hosts nearly 19,000 vessels each year, according to Lloyd’s List, a shipping industry journal. A multinational summit resulted in an agreement that the canal would be free for all countries to use, both in peace and war.
