RPT - US Navy Maintains Dialogue On Piracy Threats With Shipping Firms Amid Suez Blockade

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th March, 2021) The US Navy's discussions with commercial shipping companies over piracy threats have been ongoing in recent days amid the Suez Canal crisis, Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, the US 5th Fleet spokeswoman, told Sputnik.

"The U.S. Navy has an open dialogue with commercial shipping related to various threats in the region such as piracy, and to provide best practices. These dialogues have been ongoing in recent days," Rebarich said.

Passage through the Suez Canal has been stopped since early on Tuesday after 224,000-tonne container ship Ever Given ran aground, blocking the entire width of the waterway.

The canal connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.

"U.S. Naval Forces Central Command's Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping (NCAGS) provides an interface between military and merchant shipping. On any given day, NCAGS monitors over 5,500 ships in the region, including 100 or more U.S. merchant vessels.

This increased awareness enables all U.S. and international partners to deter and expose malign activity in the maritime domain," Rebarich said.

Rebarich noted that Combined Maritime Forces Task Force 151 (CTF-151) was founded in 2009 to ensure counter-piracy and maintains a presence in the Maritime Security Transit Corridor to deter, disrupt and suppress piracy and armed robbery at sea.

"CTF-151 works in conjunction with the European Union Naval Force Somalia (EUNAVFOR), and together with independently deployed naval ships from nations," she added.

Media have reported that Ever Given may be re-floated on Saturday.

Sources told The Wall Street Journal magazine that the efforts to dig out Ever Green made late on Friday were going well, bringing hope that the work would be accomplished earlier than it was previously expected.

On Friday, the vessel's owner, Evergreen, said that it would take at least two or three days to free the stranded ship.