Almost a week after it ran aground in the Suez Canal, blocking hundreds of ships, the giant freighter MV Ever Given began to move, videos that emerged on social media show. But its owner said that while the giant ship “has turned,” it was not yet afloat.
Ever Given was “stuck at a 30-degree angle to the canal, but that has been alleviated,” the boat owner’s spokesman said.
“A total of 11 tugs have been pulling Ever Given since this morning,” he added.
– Mhmdzaki (@ mhmdzaki69) March 29, 2021
The massive container ship has turned 80 percent in the right direction, officials from Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority said, raising hopes that the vital trade route will soon be clear.
“The ship’s position has been reoriented 80 percent in the right direction. The stern … moved 102 meters (335 feet) from shore,” compared to its previous position four meters from shore, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chief Osama Rabie in a statement.
Some 27,000 cubic meters of sand were excavated, to a depth of 18 meters, to free the ship, according to reports.
March 28, 2021 in 90 seconds. Mashhour is the cutter suction dredger. You will also see black tugs near the ship. And I have my colleagues with their own excavators. Now we are very much like the Power Rangers.
: Suez Canal Authority#SuezCrisis#SuezBLOCKED#Suez#Evergreenshippic.twitter.com/wHrKquuRc0
– Boy with the excavator in the Suez canal (@SuezDiggerGuy) March 28, 2021
For six days, the giant ship had been wedged diagonally through the Suez Canal, one of the most important waterways in the world, since March 23, generating a long queue of more than 450 ships at the southern entrance. from the trade route.
The backlog severely strained global supply chains that have already been stretched by the pandemic, as the canal is a conduit for roughly 12% of global trade. Some ships opted for the long and expensive journey around the southern tip of Africa instead of Suez.
Egypt, which controls the canal, had been losing around $ 14 million a day in revenue due to the accidental blockade.
With contributions from AFP
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