Shipping resumes on the Suez Canal

Ships are once again able to transit the Suez Canal, as the grounded Ever Given is towed away, reports Reuters. Evergreen Line, the charterer of the Ever Given made the following statement: “

“We are most grateful to the Suez Canal Authority and all the concerned parties for their assistance and support through this difficult and unfortunate situation.

“We would also like to express our deepest appreciation to the crew who remain steadfast in their posts, as well as the salvage experts and dredging team for their professionalism and relentless efforts over the past six days towards securing this outcome.”

The stricken vessel was freed at 15:00 local time by a team effort consisting of dredgers, tugs, shoreside diggers, and the vessel’s own engines.

The backlog of more than 300 ships are now able to transit the canal and more than a billion dollars worth of goods will be able to make its way to market.

According to specialist dredging company, Boskalis, more than 30,000 cubic metres of sand was moved in the salvage effort. 11 harbour tugs and two more powerful seagoing tugs were also used to finally free the mammoth vessel.

The blockage of the canal has had a knock-on effect on markets and supply chains around the world, with some lines choosing to re-route their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, and Evercore analyst, Jonathan Chappell told Reuters the aftermath of the incident would be felt for some time:

“An absolute onslaught of containers will likely hit the major European ports all at once in the coming weeks, adding to widespread logistical bottlenecks throughout the continent.

“Waiting time at the canal, around the Cape [of Good Hope], and at anchorage outside ports, as well as waiting for equipment to turn once at the discharge ports, is likely to exacerbate already massive inefficiencies in the containership fleet, just as new stimulus checks hit bank accounts and vaccine optimism leads to more economic openings.”