MV Ever Given, the massive container ship that has blocked Egypt’s Suez Canal for nearly a week, has been partially refloated, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) reports.
The MV Ever Given, longer than four football fields, has been wedged diagonally across the canal since Tuesday, strangling world supply chains and costing the global economy billions.
Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chief Osama Rabie said Monday that rescue efforts with tugs had succeeded in shifting the front and back of the ship.
“The position of the ship has been reorientated 80 per cent in the right direction, Rabie in a statement.
“The stern… moved to 102 metres (335 feet) from the shore” compared to its position four metres from the shore previously, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) head Osama Rabie said in an interview with local media.
Efforts to refloat it will resume on the next high tide.
The SCA statement said that the refloating process “will resume when water flow increases again from 11:30 local time… in order to completely refloat the vessel, so as to reposition it in the middle of the waterway.”
According to the Vesselfinder and myshiptracking sites, the stern could be seen to have shifted from the canal’s western bank.
The vessel’s partial refloating came after several efforts of tugboats attempting to push and pull the vessel. The efforts were aided by a high tide last night.
The 220,000-ton, 400-metre-long MV Ever Given was lodged diagonally across the Suez Canal since last Tuesday, blocking the waterway and cutting off global supply chains.
The Suez Canal, an artificial waterway, serves as a supply line between Asia and Europe.
The week-long blockage has forced shipping companies to ply the waterways spanning around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, causing a delay in deliveries worldwide.
