Ship Blocking the Suez Canal Finally Re-floated Partially After 6 Days; 10 Tug Boats Were Used to Push & Pull the Ship

While commuters here have been complaining about traffic jams due to MRT disruptions, hundreds of vessels have been stuck in the Red Sea for several days.

Unless you’re a toddler who just learned how to open phone apps and ended up on Goody Feed by accident, you probably know what I’m talking about.

But if you don’t, here’s a brief recap:

Last Tuesday (23 Mar), the Ever Given, one of the world’s largest container ships, ran aground in the Suez Canal, a waterway in Egypt.

The large ship has blocked transit in both directions, leading to massive congestion in the sea.

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

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

Now, after several failed recovery attempts, it seems like the authorities are close to freeing the ship.

Ship Blocking the Suez Canal Finally Re-floated Partially After 6 Days; 10 Tug Boats Were Used to Push & Pull the Ship

The Ever Given has been partially re-floated after salvage teams involving 10 tugboats made a breakthrough on Monday morning (29 Mar).

Tugboats and dredgers pushed and pulled the ship repeatedly to remove the ship’s bow from the sandy bank, where it had been lodged at least 5m in.

After intensifying their efforts, the salvage teams finally managed to re-float the 400-metre-long, 200,000-tone vessel at around 4:30am local time in Egypt.

The situation is far from being resolved, however, as the ship still has a damaged hull and is being secured.

450 Vessels Stuck in Massive Traffic Jam in the Red Sea

Since traffic can only resume once the vessel has been cleared by the authorities, the 450 vessels currently stuck in the Red Sea will have to wait a little longer.

Other vessels have chosen to take the longer trade route around the southern tip of Africa.

Many firms have been affected by the Suez Canal blockage, including everyone’s favourite Swedish furniture retail company IKEA.

More alarmingly, thousands of live animals, likely livestock like sheep, are stuck on vessels in the sea.

Since they’ll need additional food and water owing to the delay, ships might have to find supplies at a local port, or even turn around.

As for Singaporeans, we may face some minor inconveniences such as products being unavailable and longer shipping times, but necessities such as toilet paper are sourced from Asia, so there’s no reason to rush to the supermarket and panic buy them by the bucket-load.

Let’s not repeat the Circuit Breaker fiasco.

Asian exporters and European importers have been badly affected by the blockage, however, with it costing them about US$400 million (S$538 million) an hour.

Shipping rates are also spiking as global supply chains which were already strained by the pandemic face another setback.

Investigations into what caused the mammoth ship to run aground are still ongoing.

Feature Image: European Space Agency / CNBC