Stranded Ship Finally Fully Re-floated From Suez Canal; Traffic in Waterway to Resume

Last Tuesday (23 Mar), a massive traffic jam formed in Egypt.

Normally, this wouldn’t be a story that would be splashed all over the front pages, but it occurred on the sea, and instead of cars, trucks, and bikes, large ships were involved.

On that fateful day, the Ever Given, one of the world’s largest container ships, ran aground in the Suez Canal – a waterway in Egypt – after it lost the ability to steer amid high winds and a dust storm.

Consequently, the large ship has blocked transit in both directions for several days, leading to massive congestion in the sea.

The Suez Canal is one of the world’s busiest trade routes, with 12% of global trade passing through the waterway.

Needless to say, this has sparked panic around the globe as supplies to certain regions, including Asia, may be disrupted.

Now, nearly a week after the blockage, it seems like the issue has finally been resolved.

Stranded Ship Finally Fully Re-floated From Suez Canal; Traffic in Waterway to Resume

Fret no more, your instant coffee is on its way to supermarkets near you.

The Ever Given was fully floated on Monday (29 Mar), meaning traffic could finally resume after 6 days of congestion.

Salvage teams, including 11 tugboats and dredgers, pushed and pulled the ship repeatedly to free it from the sandy bank, where it had been lodged at least 5m in.

At 4:30am local time in Egypt on Monday, the salvage teams finally managed to partially re-float the 400-metre-long, 200,000-tonne vessel by freeing the ship’s stern, but the authorities were cautious of celebrating prematurely.

They weren’t sure if the ship’s bow – the front of a ship – had been truly extracted from the muddy banks of the canal.

So, salvage crews kept at it, working through the night on Sunday (28 Mar) and into Monday (29 Mar).

Then, just before the sun rose, the ship regained buoyancy.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt confirmed on Twitter that salvage teams had indeed freed the mammoth ship.

“Egyptians have succeeded today in ending the crisis of the stuck ship in the Suez Canal despite the great complexities surrounding this situation in every aspect,” he wrote.

May Still Take Days For Operations to Return to Normal

But everything isn’t back to normal yet.

Even though a team of divers who inspected the Ever Given found no damage, the ship is scheduled to be inspected again.

It will be towed to the Great Bitter Lake, located along the canal’s route, so traffic can resume.

Yesterday, it was reported that around 450 vessels were stuck in the Red Sea, blocked by the Ever Given.

However, the canal itself has to be inspected to ensure that it’s safe for other vessels to pass through.

This means that it could take days before operations return to normal.

Feature Image: European Space Agency / CNBC