DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – A huge cargo ship capsized in Egypt’s Suez Canal, blocking traffic on a crucial east-west waterway for global shipping, according to satellite data.
The Panama-flagged container ship, MV Ever Given, with a listed owner in Japan, closed to traffic on Tuesday on a narrow waterway dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula.
It was not immediately clear what caused Ever to turn sideways in the canal. A global shipping and logistics company called GAC described Ever Gwen as suffering from a “blackout when moving north”. Others blamed the strong winds for turning the vessel.
According to satellite data from MarineTrafe.com, Ever Giwed’s bow touched the eastern wall of the canal, while its tightness was recorded against its western wall. Several tug boats surrounded the ship, presumably trying to propel it properly, data show.
An image posted on Instagram by a user on another waiting cargo ship was shown to Ever Given around the canal.
Canal officials could not be reached as early as Wednesday. The ship was stranded about 6 kilometers (7.7 miles) north of the southern mouth of the canal near the city of Suez.
Cargo ships and oil tankers were ining at the southern end of the Suez Canal, waiting to pass through the waterway at sea, according to MarineTraffs data.
The United Nations database lists Ever Givan as owned by Shoi Kisen Ken, a ship-leasing company based in Imambari, Japan. Pay was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday. The ship was destined for Rotterdam in the Netherlands before being stranded in the canal.
Evergreen Marine Corp., a large shipping company based in Taiwan, has also made a list of Evergave in its fleet and the ship has its own color scheme and logo.
Evergreen could not immediately be reached for comment, although Taiwan’s state-run Central News Agency quoted unnamed company sources as saying the ship, which was entering the Suez Canal from the Red Sea, was overcome by strong winds, but none of its containers sank.
With a length of approximately 400 meters (a quarter mile) and a width of 59 meters (193 feet), Ever Gived, built in 2018, is one of the largest cargo vessels in the world.
Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal provides a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo transported east and west. About 10% of the world’s trade flows through waterways and is Egypt’s top foreign exchange earner. In 2015, the government of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi completed a major expansion of the canal, allowing it to accommodate the world’s largest ships.
___
Taizing Wu, an associate press writer in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.
___
Follow John Gambler on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
.
