Cargo ship “Ever Given” is stuck and blocks traffic in the Suez Canal
Source: Reuters
The massive container ship that ran aground in the Suez Canal and brought traffic to one of the world’s busiest waterways is still trapped after little progress appeared Wednesday to dislodge the ship.
The ship, called the Ever Given, was horizontally wedged in the waterway by heavy winds. Several tugs have been sent on site to assist with the re-float operation, which can take days.
At around 4 p.m. ET, a spokesman for Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the ship’s technical manager, said the ship was still aground and efforts were being made to float again.
The huge cargo carrier is over 400 meters long and about 30 meters wide. It weighs more than 200,000 tons. One end of the ship was wedged into one side of the canal, while the other reached almost to the other shore.
The 120-mile artificial waterway is a major point of world trade, connecting a steady flow of goods from east to west.
Everything from consumer products to machine parts to oil flows through the water.
Nearly 19,000 ships passed through the canal by 2020, according to the Suez Canal Authority, for an average of 51.5 a day. The ship was sailing from China to Rotterdam when it ran aground.
Satellite images showed an accumulation of ships at both ends of the waterway when the Ever Given stopped the flow of traffic.
The accident is because the global supply chain is already struggling to keep up with demand. The shortages were most acute in the chip industry, forcing carmakers to suspend operations.