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The container ship “Ever Given” has been stuck in the Suez Canal for about a week. Now rescue teams reported a first success.
The container ship “Ever Given”, which ran aground in the Suez Canal, has been freed after being blocked for days. The 400-meter-long vessel has been returned to a floating condition and is being secured, maritime service provider Inchcape Shipping announced early Monday morning. It was initially unclear after the success report when the “Ever Given,” which was heading north in the canal on its way to Rotterdam, would be able to continue its journey. “According to our information, measures are still underway to ensure that the ship is fully afloat again,” a spokesman for Bernd Schulte Shipmanagement told the press.
The container ship ran aground last week, blocking the important trade route in both directions. The 193-kilometer-long canal is the shortest link between Europe and Asia and the crucial corridor for crude oil and imported goods to Europe.
In recent days, dredgers had removed further soil from under the ship’s bow. In addition, another special dredger was on the way to support the work, it was said at night. Had the freighter not been able to be towed free by Monday evening, unloading of the ship would have begun on the instructions of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The crew had remained on board and is well
The ship, owned by a Japanese company and about the size of the Empire State Building in New York, was bound for Rotterdam when it ran aground while passing through the canal with two pilots on board on Tuesday and has been blocking the passage ever since. The cause, according to initial investigations, was “strong winds,” it said. Also “human error” can not be ruled out.
- source: derspiegel.de/picture: faz.net
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