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Ever Given, the massive ship blocking the Suez Canal for 6 days, has been partially freed.
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The massive cargo vessel caused a blockage in the Suez Canal, straining global trade.
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It’s still not known when the canal will be open the hundreds of ships waiting to enter.
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A massive container ship stuck in the Suez Canal has been “partially re-floated,” Bloomberg News reported, citing shipping services provider Inchcape. Inchcape said in a tweet the boat is now being “secured.”
The Ever Given had been stuck sideways across Egypt’s canal since Tuesday, clogging a vital artery for the global economy and forcing multiple ships to turn around and reroute around Africa’s southern tip.
The vessel’s stern was moved to 334 feet away from the bank, according to a Monday statement from the Suez Canal Authority.
After freeing the bow from the banks of the canal, tugboats are now working on straightening the vessel’s course so it can continue moving up the waterway, the Wall Street Journal reported. The ship’s rudder was freed from the sediment on Friday.
“It is good news,” Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, told The Journal. “We are not finished yet, but it has moved.”
A shipping source told Reuters that the ship has restarted its engines. Two sources also told the outlet that the ship was straightened and will be inspected before being moved.
Bloomberg reported that more than 450 vessels have been stuck, are waiting, or are en route to get through the canal.
Mohab Mamish, president’s adviser for the canal authority, told Bloomberg it’ll take around a week to get all the boats that have been stuck cleared out of the Suez canal corridor. However, the impact on supply chains will last several months, according to Lloyd’s List.
“For every day the canal remains blocked, the ripple effects on global capacity and equipment continues to increase and the blockage triggers a series of further disruptions and backlogs in global shipping that could take months to unravel, even after the canal is reopened,” the journal quoted Danish shipping company Maersk as saying.
🎥: The Ever Given Vessel re-floated and has restarted its engines.#Suez #Evergreen #EVERGIVEN #SuezUnblocked pic.twitter.com/ejHwcm5r1T
— Mohammed Soliman (@ThisIsSoliman) March 29, 2021
Reuters reported that following news the ship was refloated, crude oil prices fell by $1 per barrel to $63.67.
The 1,300 foot-long cargo ship, one of the world’s largest, became wedged in the Suez Canal early Tuesday morning. Egyptian officials initially blamed the weather, including strong winds and a dust storm. But on Saturday, officials said the logjam could be the result of “technical or human errors.”
The nearly six-day blockage forced some ships to take a costly, dangerous detour thousands of miles around the southern tip of Africa and was reportedly costing the global economy $400 million an hour in delayed goods. The Ever Given is operated by the Taiwan-based shipping company Evergreen Group.
Tugboats and dredgers had been working to free the ship for days with little success.
In a video shared on Twitter, boats could be heard honking after the ship was freed. Another clip appeared to show the ship moving again as the sun was rising.
By Victoria Cavaliere , Kelsey Vlamis , Sarah Al-Arshani , and Mia Jankowicz @ Insider