Traffic in Suez Canal Resumes As Container Ship Successfully Unstuck

Rabat – After nearly a week of blocked traffic, Ever Given, one of the world’s largest container ships, has finally been dislodged from the Suez Canal in Egypt, the canal authority said in a statement.

On Tuesday, March 23, the 220,000-ton, 400-meter long, and 59-meter wide Taiwanese “megaship” ran aground during strong winds and a dust storm. The vessel got lodged near the southern end of the Suez Canal causing a massive traffic jam in the waterway.

Read also: Morocco, US Seek to Promote Maritime Partnership

After a week of speculation and uncertainty, with some expecting the blockage to continue well into early April, the vessel was finally dislodged on Monday afternoon. Despite the delay, Egypt’s President issued a statement conveying that “today, Egyptians have succeeded in ending the crisis of the stranded ship on the Suez Canal, despite the massive technical complexity surrounding this process on every side.”

While maritime traffic has resumed, the Ever Given saga is far from over. John Noble, a salvage and wreck removal specialist, speaking to CGTN Europe explained that Evergreen, the Taiwanese company that owns the ship, could now be facing millions of dollars worth of insurance claims.

Read also: Report: Maritime Transport to Support Restructuring of African Economy

Noble explained that “the ship will have two sorts of insurance: it will have insurance for the damage to the ship itself; then it will have mutual insurance for the liabilities the ship will have incurred because of this hold up, and the market will be very international.” He also noted that the ships that got stuck at each end of the canal could possibly claim for the delay.

CGTN Europe also reported that a “container ship the size of Ever Given was likely to be insured for hull and machinery damage for between $100m and $140m.”

In a statement, Evergreen explained that the vessel will now be moved to the Great Bitter

Lake in the Canal for an ”inspection of its seaworthiness.” Depending on the outcome of the inspection, it remains to be seen “whether the ship can resume its scheduled service.”