Skip to contentSuez canal- How are they trying to free the ever Given?
- The Egypt’s Suez Canal is blocked by a giant container ship. A 400m-long (1,300ft), 200,000-tonne vessel that ran aground on Tuesday morning due to amid high winds and a sandstorm that affected visibility.
- About 12% of global trade passes through the 193km (120-mile) canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and provides the shortest sea link between Asia and Europe.
- The blockage is holding up an estimated $9.6bn (£7bn) of goods each day -or $400m an hour -according to data from Lloyd’s List.Specialist salvage companies have been brought in to help refloat the ship, and an adviser to Egypt’s president has said he hopes the situation will be resolved within two to three days. But experts have said it could take weeks if the vessel’s containers need to be removed. An alternative route, around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, can take two weeks longer.
- John Denholm, president of the UK Chamber of Shipping, told the BBC that if the diggers and tugs were notsuccessful, salvage teams would have to start the slow process of “lightering” the ship -transferring its cargo to another vessel or the canal bank. That would involve bringing in specialist equipment, including a crane that would need to stretch more than 60m (200ft) high, he said.”If we go through the lightering process, I suspect we’re talking weeks.”
