The container ship Ever Given, which has been blocking the Egyptian Suez Canal for days, has partially detached from the shore. The Dutch dredger Boskalis is involved in the operation to release the 400-meter-long Ever Given.
Boskalis CEO Berdowski reports in the NOS Radio 1 News that with the help of a large sea tug that arrived yesterday, it was possible to pull out the stern. But the stem is still “stuck”, says Berdowski. He calls it “a great challenge” to get it going.
In recent hours, a lot of work has been done to get the ship off the shore:
In the early morning, at high tide, the large sea tug of Boskalis subsidiary Smit Salvage was used for the first time in an operation to detach the ship. A second sea tug will arrive later this morning. This will be used in subsequent operations to refloat the ship and clear the channel.
An enormous traffic jam of hundreds of container ships and tankers has arisen around the busy Suez Canal.
Waiting ships around the Suez Canal sounded their ship’s horn after it became known that the blockade may have been resolved.
The container ship, belonging to a Taiwanese shipping company, got stuck last Tuesday for an unknown cause. The Suez Canal is of great importance for international trade. 30 percent of all container traffic in the world passes through the canal, some of which is so narrow that only one ship can pass through at a time. Every day, the canal transports about $ 9 billion worth of goods,