Ship blocking Suez Canal is moved by 100 ft, rescue crews say

An aerial shot of the Ever Given blocking the Suez Canal.
AP
John Dunne @jhdunne28 March 2021

The huge container ship blocking the Suez Canal has been moved by nearly 100ft, according to salvage teams battling to free the vessel.

Two heavier tugboats joined the mission on Sunday in a fresh bid to move the stricken Ever Given.

The Panama-flagged, Japanese-owned ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, got stuck in a single-lane stretch of the canal on Tuesday.

Despite a massive operation authorities have been unable to remove the vessel and traffic through the canal, valued at more than nine billion US dollars (£6.5 billion) a day, has been halted. Shipments ranging from cars and laptops to livestock and oil pass through the canal every day.

Two boats, the Dutch-flagged Alp Guard and the Italian-flagged Carlo Magno, were called in to help tugboats already there. They reached the Red Sea near the city of Suez early on Sunday.

In a major breakthrough rescue crews told NBC they have managed to move the vessel 98ft, or 30 metres.

Meanwhile some of the cargo is being removed in an effort make the huge ship easier to move.

President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had ordered the lightening of the cargo on the ship.

The salvage teams have been trying to free the vessel with dredgers and tugs without having to unload its containers.

There were 20,000 containers aboard The Ever Given when it got stuck about 6km north of the canal’s Red Sea entrance.

On Saturday the head of the Suez Canal Authority said strong winds “were not the only cause” for the Ever Given running aground.

Lieutenant General Osama Rabei said an investigation was underway and would not rule out technical or human error.

He added: “We are in a difficult situation. It’s a bad incident.”

Asked when the vessel would be freed he said: “I can’t say because I don’t know.”

The closure of the Suez Canal has already led to the rationing of fuel in war torn Syria which relies on supplies coming through the waterway.

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