March 29, 2021

Cargo Ship Blocking Suez Canal Now Moving

After a week of disruption, the Suez Canal is preparing to reopen after Ever Given finally gets under way.

The ship that has been blocking Suez Canal transits appears to have finally been pulled clear of the bank side and is now in mid channel.

The 20,000 teu Ever Given appears to be in the middle of the canal with its heading now showing it pointing north and making 0.5 kts over ground.

A statement from Evergreen, the vessel’s charter, said the ships would be repositioned to the Great Bitter Lake in the Canal for an inspection of its seaworthiness.

“The outcome of that inspection will determine whether the ship can resume its scheduled service,” Evergreen said. “Once the inspection is finalized, decisions will be made regarding arrangements for cargo currently on board.”

Evergreen added that it would coordinate with the vessel’s owner to deal with “subsequent matters” after the shipowner and other concerned parties complete investigation reports into the incident.

BSM, Ever Given’s technical manager, also confirmed that the vessel was safely refloated at approximately 1500 hrs local time.

German container line Hapag-Lloyd said that now the vessel was underway to the Great Bitter Lake for inspection and repair, it expected transits to start later this evening.

“It is still not clear if any vessels might be prioritized for passage,” Hapag-Lloyd said in a customer advisory. “The current backlog should be cleared within four days.”

Ever Given had been blocking the Suez Canal since March 23.

According to vessel-tracking data, 372 vessels were stalled waiting to transit the Suez Canal on Sunday. A total of 80 containerships were still waiting, but diversions of container traffic for the Asia-EU and EU-Asia trades started accelerating over the weekend, with dozens of vessels now starting to reroute.

(Source: Lloyd’s List)