Suez Canal In Egypt Finally Reopens After The Giant Stranded Ship Gets Freed!
Traffic resumes in Egypt’s Suez Canal after the stranded cargo ship which blocked the route for nearly a week was finally freed.
Normalcy has been restored in Egypt’s Suez Canal as traffic resumed on Tuesday after the stranded container ship blocking it was finally freed. Ever Given, a giant cargo ship had got stuck in the route causing traffic disruptions in the route for nearly a week. Tug boats honked their horns in celebration on Monday as they dislodged the 400m-long (1,300ft) vessel with the help of dredgers. Hundreds of ships that had got stuck are now passing through the canal which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.
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Upon freeing the stuck vessel, Egyptian officials promised that the backlog of ships waiting to transit through would be cleared in three days. Now, the traffic has been cleared and the route is finally back to normalcy. However, shipping experts believe that the economic effect caused by the event could take weeks or even months to resolve.
The Panama-flagged Ever Given operated by Evergreen Marine of Taiwan had gotten stuck in the Suez Canal last Tuesday as it ran aground. The ship which takes cargo from Asia and Europe was noted to have a crew strength of 25. The 1,300-feet-long container ship began to disrupt the global shipping industries as it blocked almost 320 ships on the route. The 200,000-tonne ship is believed to have run aground due to high winds and a sandstorm which reduced visibility.
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The ship was finally afloat, thanks to the efforts of a Dutch specialist team, SMIT, which oversaw a team of 13 tugs that freed the vessel. It was feared that the process could take weeks as many believed the only way out was by unloading the ship’s cargo of some 18,000 containers to lighten the weight. But high tides helped the tugs and dredgers in their work as the ship slowly swung back into the water route.
The vessel was towed to the Great Bitter Lake, near the even location, where it will undergo safety checks. If the blockage had dragged on any longer, shippers would have been forced to take their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, multiplying the days and fuel needed for the journey.
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