Cheniere and Shell oil tankers change course to avoid Suez Canal as ships divert routes

Cheniere and Shell oil tankers change course to avoid Suez Canal as ships divert routes

Companies are scrambling to reroute shipping vessels to avoid the logjam at the Suez Canal, including at least two U.S. ships carrying natural gas for Cheniere and Shell/BG Group, according to data provided by MarineTraffic and ClipperData.At least ten tankers and containerships are changing course as the Ever Given, one of the world's largest containerships, remains stranded across the canal along Egypt, MarineTraffic spokesman Georgios Hatzimanolis told CNBC in an interview."We expect that number to go up as this closure progresses," Hatzimanolis said.The1,300-foot ship ran aground Tuesday enroute from Malaysia to the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The stranded ship has caused other vessels to back up in the canal, holding up roughly $400 million an hour in goods, according to Lloyd's List shipping journal. That's slowly increased over the last several days after repeated efforts by Egypt to refloat the 247,000-ton containership have failed. Officials there are using eight large tugboats and excavation equipment on the banks of the canal to dig out sand around the grounded vessel.According to MarineTraffic, there are 97 vessels stuck in the upper portion of the canal, 23 vessels waiting in the middle and 108 vessels in the lower portion. The logjam stretches through