After having left stranded for almost a week, container ship Evergreen was finally ‘refloated’ raising hopes that the busy waterway will soon be reopened for a big backlog of ships.
The Evergreen container ship is one of the biggest of its kind in the world. The ship had remained stuck at the Suez Canal diagonally for almost a week.
The 400-metre (430-yard) long Evergreen was successfully re-floated at 02:30 GMT and was being secured.
Evergreen got stuck diagonally across a southern section of the Suez Canal due high winds last Tuesday.
How did Evergreen’s ship get stuck in the Suez Canal and create the world’s heaviest traffic jam?
The 1,312-foot, 200,000 metric ton Ever Given has created a shipper’s nightmare and captured the public’s imagination.
We explain how it happened: https://t.co/Y8ENdtlYRe pic.twitter.com/dNc5V83K7W
— USA TODAY Graphics (@usatgraphics) March 26, 2021
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Suez Canal is the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) on Monday informed that the vessel had been mostly straightened along the eastern bank of the canal and further tugging operations would resume once the tide rose later in the day.
First moment of the Egyptian crew celebrations after freeing Evergiven in Egyptian Suez Canal world trade will be resumed shortly Thanks #Egypt#Banama #Japan #suezcanel #Suez #????_?????? #???????_??????? #Evergreen #SuezBLOCKED #EVERGIVEN pic.twitter.com/kLyrY00KgO
— Fawzy (@AhmedFawzy007) March 29, 2021
“At least 369 vessels are waiting to transit the canal, including dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels,” SCA Chairman Osama Rabie said.
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Finally! The EVER-GIVEN ship has been unstuck and is slowly moving into the #SuezCanal #Egypt #Suez #SuezCanal #EVERGIVEN #Evergreen #BreakingNews|#????_?????? #???????_??????? pic.twitter.com/cgwxFOyQFS— ?????? ??? Egypt (@EgyProjects) March 29, 2021
About 15% of world shipping traffic transits the Suez Canal, which is a key source of foreign currency revenue for Egypt. The current stoppage is costing the canal $14-$15 million a day.