Ever Given container ship.Photo: KHALED ELFIQI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Horns could be heardbellowing in celebrationon Monday, as the Ever Given was finally freed after being trapped in the Suez Canal for six days.
After the massive container vessel became lodged in the waterway last Tuesday, salvage teams — who reportedly worked over the entire six days it was stuck — were able to free it on Monday around 3 p.m. local time, according toThe New York Times.
“Maneuvers are set to be resumed once more during high tide at 11:30 a.m.; as it shall reach 2 m., allowing for the full restoration of the vessel’s direction so it ispositioned in the middle of the navigable waterway,” according to the SCA.
While the SCA didn’t specify when normal traffic would resume along the canal, it said that Admiral Rabie “would like to reassure the international navigation society [that] navigation shall be resumed immediately upon the complete restoration of the vessel’s direction and directing it to the Bitter Lakes waiting area for technical inspection.”
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The Ever Given container ship.Media Suez Canal Head Office/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“His Excellency has also commended the efforts of the SCA workers who achieved this heroic feat saying that they have done their patriotic duty impeccably and that in all certainty work will be complete very soon,“the release concluded.
The skyscraper-sized vessel’s story has been in the news over the past week after it became wedged within Egypt’s Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest waterways, on Tuesday.
The Ever Given caused a traffic jam of more than 100 vessels on either side of the waterway after it became stuck around 7:40 a.m. local time, according to theThe New York TimesandThe Washington Post.
As the cargo ship was sailing along the canal, a dust storm hit the area, causing limited visibility and heavy winds. The storm caused “aninability to direct the ship,” George Safwat, a spokesperson for the SCA, told theTimes.
Ever Given container ship blocking the Suez Canal.Planet Labs/AP
Several tugboats tried to free the ship and crews on land brought equipment to try and dislodge the vessel. By Wednesday, shipping agentGACreported that the vessel was “partially refloated” and “now alongside the Canal bank.”
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, which manages the Ever Given, told theAssociated Pressthere had been “no reports of injuries or pollution” and all 20 crew members were safe following the incident.
According to the AP, the Suez Canal accounts for roughly 10% of world trade flows.
Experts noted that this was the first time they’d ever heard of a ship getting lodged against both canal walls in the waterway’s 150-year history.
source: people.com
