You have seen the memes. One would think they’ve seen everything but I am sure you’ve never a cargo ship as big as Ever Given stuck in the most awkward way possible inside a narrow canal. The ship had run aground after a sandstorm had reduced visibility. This reduced the ship’s crew’s capacity to navigate the canal. Eventually leading them to be stuck in the most unusual way possible. The world sure does work in mysterious ways.
Early morning, today March 29, some good news finally came. Authorities announced that the Ever Given has finally been, at least partially, freed from the banks of the Suez Canal. This raises hopes that the canal can finally be unblocked as the canal holds high importance to Egypt. The Suez Canal is a very significant shortcut for worldwide trade for Egypt. It allows for transportation between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.
The ship sailed under a Panama flag, weighing around 224,000 tons. It was traveling down 192 km waterway to the Dutch port of Rotterdam. It is around 396m long, given how narrow the canal is, it should be extremely difficult for it to get out of this situation on its own. Teams have been working day and night to unblock the canal. Efforts include vacuuming up sand underneath the ship and also tugging it with tugboats.
According to a tweet, just as the ship got partially freed, the surrounding people burst into celebration. This does not come as a shocker as the canal holds significant importance. It is estimated that the blockage is causing nearly $10 billion in global trade every day it remains blocked. You can view the Tweet below
It is hard to say how long it will take to completely free the ship but the teams are hard at work. Shoutout to them for working day and night, even during this pandemic. Tug boats are working hard to free the ship but no one knows how long it will take.
The memes are good though.
