Traffic through Suez Canal resumes after wedged ship is refloated
Shipping traffic through canal resumes after Ever Given is successfully refloated
ISMAILIA, EGYPT: Shipping traffic through Egypt's Suez Canal has resumed after a giant container ship that had been blocking the busy waterway for almost a week was refloated, the canal authority said.
The 400m-long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early last Tuesday, halting traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
"She is free," an official involved in the salvage operation said.
After dredging and excavation work over the weekend, rescue workers from the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) and a team from Dutch firm Smit Salvage succeeded in partially refloating it early yesterday using tug boats, two marine and shipping sources said.
Efforts to completely free it continued throughout the day.
Evergreen Line, which is leasing the Ever Given, confirmed the ship had been successfully refloated and said it would be repositioned in a lake that sits between two sections of the canal and inspected for seaworthiness.
At least 369 vessels are waiting to transit the canal, including dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers and liquefied natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas ) vessels, SCA chairman Osama Rabie said.
The SCA has said it can accelerate convoys through the canal.
"We will not waste one second," Admiral Rabie said on Egyptian TV.
He said it could take from 21/2 to three days to clear the backlog, and the canal source said more than 100 ships would be able to enter the channel daily.
Shipping group Maersk said the knock-on disruptions to global shipping could take weeks or months to unravel.
And Evergreen said decisions regarding the vessel's cargo would be made after the inspection and that it would coordinate with the ship's owner after investigation reports were completed.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt had ended the crisis and assured resumption of trade through the canal.
About 15 per cent of world shipping traffic transits the Suez Canal, which is an important source of foreign currency revenue for Egypt.
The stoppage is costing the canal US$14 million (S$19 million) to US$15 million a day.
Shipping rates for oil product tankers nearly doubled after the ship became stranded, and the blockage has disrupted global supply chains, threatening costly delays for companies already dealing with Covid-19 restrictions. - REUTERS
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