EVER GIVEN: THE SHIP THAT STOPPED THE WORLD
The MV Ever Given was refloated and the Suez Canal reopened to traffic Monday, sparking relief almost a week after the huge container ship got stuck and blocked a major artery for global trade. Tugboat crews sounded their foghorns in celebration after the Japanese-owned megaship the length of four football fields was fully dislodged from the sandy banks of the Suez.
World oil prices eased on the news of the reopening of the waterway that connects the Mediterranean and Red Sea and through which more than 10 percent of world trade passes.
Suez Canal Authority official Khaled Taha told reporters in the city of Ismailia on the Suez that maritime traffic had restarted after the “successful refloating”.
The SCA cautioned, however, that it will take more than three days to clear the traffic jam of ships stuck at the northern and southern ends of the canal.
In the hours before the ship was dislodged, the tailbacks had reached 425 vessels.
Canal services provider Leth Agencies said in a tweet that the MV Ever Given had been “safely escorted to Great Bitter Lake” by the authority.
Fourty-three vessels wereexpected to leave the transit area heading south, it added. Maritime data company Lloyd’s List said the blockage had held up an estimated $9.6 billion worth of cargo each day between Asia and Europe.
A very tight jam
In the small canal-side village of Manchiyet al-rougoula, residents watched in amazement as the immense container ship left the bank.
A father and his family climbed to the roof of their red brick house to get a better view as the ship with at least nine levels of containers slowly passed by.
“We are happy to see the boat move (and) thank God,” said one resident who asked not to be named.
A former SCA chairman, Mohab Mamish, expressed pride in the operation, telling AFP: “I am well and truly overjoyed ... We were able to get out of a very tight jam.” On social media too, Egyptians greeted the news with jubilation and shared a flurry of memes, including a video montage of a man representing Egypt triumphantly carrying the ship on his shoulders, to applause from the world.
ISMAILIA, AFP, MARCH29, 2021