According to a ship rescue company, the Evergiven, which blocks the Suez Canal's navigator, could be stuck for weeks, impeding the movement of oil and fuel shipments between Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

The 400-metre-long Iver Given blocks traffic in both directions through one of the world's busiest channels for shipping oil, grain and others between Asia and Europe.

Operators were forced to replace some of the fast tankers that were to head north through the Channel to load oil from the Mediterranean, but many bet that the situation would be resolved in a few days.

A source in the shipping sector said that it had been required not to name "a redirection around Africa may raise the cost of shipping around $ 400 000, as well as an increase in journey time of two or three weeks, which should also be taken into account.

He continued: "Right now, the tenants are not costing any money. The closure will affect delivery time, but there are no delay fines because there are no provisions relating to the closure of the Suez Canal. "

Of the 39.2 million barrels per day of crude oil imported by sea in 2020, 1.74 million barrels per day used the channel, according to Kapler for tanker traffic data.

Crude oil and refined products flow in both directions into the 193-kilometre Suez Canal.

In 2020, Europe imported 550,000 barrels per day of ore from sources east of Suez, mostly through the Channel, according to Kapler's figures.

South and East Asia's channel imports reached 1.27 million barrels per day in June 2020, but later declined to only 310,000 barrels per day in November.

Global refined product imports are reported to be just under 9 percent or 1.54 million barrels per day passed in the Suez Canal last year, according to Kapler. For plastics industry values, Nafta accounts for a large part of the supply of refined products using the channel.

Kapler states that two distillation product carriers loaded with diesel and aviation fuel are waiting to navigate towards the medium, while two carriers are waiting for a detector to begin sailing eastwards.

The 320-kilometre Sumid pipeline connects the Gulf of Suez to the Mediterranean Sea, transporting 80 percent of the oil going from the Gulf States to Europe, according to Sumid.

The Sumid Line connects red and medium Bahrain with a capacity of more than 2.5 million barrels per day, and the US Energy Information Administration said it saw an influx of about 1.3 million barrels per day in 2018, with a line capacity of about 2.8 million barrels per day, but used at much lower rates most of the time.

The operator of the Sumid Line addressed the oil trader to see if they wanted to use the line to transport crude under the Suez Canal's suspension, which could last for weeks due to the crisis of the delinquent container ship.

The operator said that the transport of oil using SOMID could also be expensive and unrivalled, except for giant tankers of 1 million ypres.

Another client explained that the line could cost about 50 cents to $1 a barrel, and that switching to it now could cost the charterer the entire freight cost anyway.