Transport

The Ever Given, the cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal, has been freed

29 Mar, 2021

“World’s heaviest traffic jam” eased at the Suez Canal as the Ever Given is dislodged

The Ever Given, cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal has been freed. The ship sent international shipping into a quagmire after blocking the Suez trait for a week. Some even described the scene as the world’s heaviest traffic jam. Authorities tasked themselves with an around-the-clock effort to dislodge the massive vessel from its predicament and reopen international shipping lanes.

The Suez Canal Authority

Osama Rabie, who heads the Suez Canal Authority, confirmed the presence of movement on state-run TV after the ship successfully began responding to ongoing pulling maneuvers. He affirmed the dislodging of the ship and plans to have it fully refloated by Monday. This will mark an end to a weeks-long shipping crisis that has captured the world headlines and dominated headlines.

Public Transportation in Cairo

The operation involved crews from different parts of the globe, 10 tug boats, salvage companies, and sand dredges. SCA reported that part of the emergency salvage measures involved dredging close to the ship’s front part, going as deep as 18 meters, excavating 27,000 cubic meters of sand. Among the countries that offered assistance were the United States, UAE, Greece, and China.

The Ever Given is a 400 meters long, 59 meter-wide ship weighing 224,000 tons capacity and is operated by Taiwanese-based firm Ever Given. It was carrying containers destined for Rotterdam from China. It's a new ship category referred to as ultra-large container ships (ULCS), whose larger versions cannot pass through the Panama Canal linking the Pacific and the Atlantic.

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Container ships such as the Ever Given are the most common using the Suez Canal, followed closely by tankers, general cargo, bulk carriers, car carriers, LNG ships, and others.

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The running aground has been attributed to a sandstorm and bad weather that forced it to wedge diagonally across the canal that allows ships to pass through in both directions. Some also point out human error as another potential factor given several ships have been passing the strait before and none has encountered similar challenges. Thus far, over 350 vessels remain in wait awaiting the Suez canal to be unblocked.

The Suez Canal

The Suez Canal rakes in $14 million in daily transit fees. It sees through 12% of all global trade volumes with over 18,800 vessels passing through in 2020. It was expanded in 2015 to allow ships to travel in both directions but only in certain sections of the waterway. A Moody’s Rating Agency report shows that receipts from the Suez canal are an important income source for the Egyptian economy making up 2% of GDP during pre-pandemic times. It was however affected in 2020, dropping to 1.3% of GDP.