Suez canal: Ever Given container ship freed after seven days
Ever Given #EverGiven
Salvage teams on Monday succeeded in freeing a massive container ship that had blocked the Suez canal for the past seven days, clogging up one of the world’s key trade arteries.
A strong noon tide helped a fleet of tugboats finally wrench free the 220,000-tonne Ever Given and haul it towards a lake between the north and south end of the canal, where the ship could undergo technical inspection, canal authorities said.
“Admiral Osama Rabie, head of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), has announced the resumption of shipping traffic in the Suez Canal,” the SCA said in a statement.
Television footage showed tugboat crews sounding their foghorns in celebration after the Ever Given, a cargo megaship the length of four football fields, was dislodged from the banks of the Suez.
“I am excited to announce that our team of experts, working in close collaboration with the Suez Canal Authority, successfully refloated the Ever Given on 29 March at 15:05 hrs local time, thereby making free passage through the Suez canal possible again,” said Peter Berdowski, the chief executive of the Dutch salvaging firm Boskalis, which was hired to assist in the process.
He said 30,000 cubic metres of sand had been dredged to help free the vessel, which had been pulled free using 13 tugboats.
Satellite data from MarineTraffic.com confirmed the ship was moving away from the shoreline towards the centre of the canal.
The obstruction has created a massive traffic jam in the vital passage, costing global trade between $6-10bn per day according to one estimate and straining supply chains already burdened by the coronavirus pandemic.
It remained unclear when traffic through the canal would return to normal. At least 367 vessels, carrying a vast range of items from crude oil to cattle, have piled up on either end of the canal, waiting to pass.
There were cheers at the site on Monday morning when the stern of the vessel was successfully rotated about 80%, the most visible sign of progress so far in a week-long campaign that had failed to noticeably budge the vessel. But as it had done throughout the effort, the Dutch salvaging firm offered a more muted appraisal of the prospects of freeing the ship imminently.
“Don’t cheer too soon,” Berdowski had told Dutch NPO Radio 1. “The good news is that the stern is free but we saw that as the simplest part of the job.”
Another charge by the tugboats, which included two high-powered models, was planned for around noon when the tide would be higher.
Early in the afternoon, Egypt’s president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi released a statement declaring the ship was free and casting the operation as a national victory. “Today, Egyptians have been successful in putting to an end the crisis of the stranded ship in the Suez canal, despite the enormous complexity surrounding the process,” he Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, tweeted.
The canal, a symbol of independence and pride since it was nationalised in 1956, had been dug by “their grandparents with the force of their bodies”, Sisi said. “Egyptians have proved today that they are still up to the task.”
Footage posted online a short time later showed the vessel moving smoothly through the canal with the assistance of tugboats, a marked contrast to the diagonally wedged ship whose predicament has raised oil and freight prices and may cause delays at ports around the world.
Dredgers, excavators and tugboats had worked throughout the weekend fighting changing wind and tides to dislodge thousands of cubic metres of dense clay caked around the 400-metre-long ship, managing in the early hours of Monday to rotate the vessel and free its stern side.
The financial data firm Refinitiv said on Monday the accident was costing the state-owned Suez Canal Authority about $16m a day in lost revenues.
The success of the salvaging mission had been hard to judge for the first five days as excavators and dredgers worked to remove thousands of cubic metres of thick sand in which the “mega-ship” had become jammed.
Salvagers had succeeded in freeing of the ship’s rudder on Friday night raising hopes the end was in sight, until rising tides undid the work. By Sunday, Sisi was talking of the need to lighten the ship, a delicate and time-consuming process that is considered one of the worst-case scenarios.
All the while, an Egyptian team working with Japanese and Dutch consultants dredged, dug and pulled around the clock, hoping to make enough progress to take advantage of favourable tides early in the week that provided their best chance to refloat the container ship.
Each day of the blockade may have been costing global trade about $6-10bn, according to a study published on Friday by the German insurer Allianz.
It emerged on Monday that the Ever Given was reportedly involved in another serious maritime incident in Germany in 2019. The vessel crashed into a small ferry, the Wall Street Journal reported, sparking a criminal investigation that ultimately found no fault on the part of the Ever Given’s captain.
Even with the vessel released, it could be several days before other ships can sail through the canal, said a Greek sea captain whose oil tanker is stuck behind the Ever Given. “According to the canal’s rules they have to remove it.”
Konstantinos Arletis told Mega TV on Monday, when asked if other vessels would be able to sail past the ship: “Other ships aren’t allowed to sail next to it … we’re being told an inspection has to be conducted first to see what damage the canal has sustained and if repairs are needed,” he said, explaining if other ships traversed the waterway they could further damage the affected area.
“When they tugged the ship quite a lot of sand was dislodged, which has changed the depth of the canal.”
Overnight, several dredgers had toiled to vacuum up 27,000 cubic metres of sand and mud around the ship. Another powerful tugboat, Carlo Magno, arrived at the scene to join the work on Monday, with the tugs planning to focus their efforts on the front of the ship, said Berdowski.
Related: Stranding of Ever Given in Suez canal was foreseen by many – analysis
The Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early on 23 March, halting traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
At least 369 vessels were waiting to transit the canal, Rabie said, including dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers and liquefied natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas vessels.
Many other ships have already been rerouted around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope in order to circumvent the Suez blockage, although the 5,500-mile (9,000km) diversion takes seven to 10 days longer and adds a huge fuel bill to the trip between Asia and Europe.
Agencies contributed to this report