The container ship Ever-Given 400 meters long, which has been blocking the Suez Canal for nearly a week, has started to move, according to maritime traffic viewing sites Vesselfinder and myshiptracking consulted Monday March 29 morning.
The stern of the 200,000-plus-tonne vessel has moved away from the west side of the canal, but the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has yet to issue official confirmation in the early hours of the morning, and it is still impossible to know when circulation would be restored.
In a statement issued around 5 a.m., the SCA confined itself to indicating that “The towing maneuvers to refloat the container ship Ever Given began with the aid of 10 giant tugs”. In addition, the Inchcape shipping company announced on its side that the vessel was “Refloated”, information taken up by several media.
At least a dozen tugs mobilized
TheEver-Given had been stuck since Tuesday diagonally across the canal, completely blocking this waterway of about 300 meters in width, one of the busiest in the world. In total, nearly 400 ships were stranded on Sunday at the ends and middle of the channel connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, according to SCA.
The Suez Canal, some 190 km long, handles around 10% of international maritime trade and each day of downtime causes significant delays and costs. At least a dozen tugs and dredges to suck up sand from under the ship have been mobilized in operations.