Arthur Greene
On Tuesday, a gust of wind blew the Ever Given, one of the largest container ships on earth, off course, and it became wedged across the width of the narrow Suez Canal – bringing one of the busiest shipping routes to a complete standstill.
The 193km canal in Egypt connects the Red Sea with the Meditterrenean, providing the shortest link between Asia and Europe and handles 12% of all the world’s shipping.
More than 300 ships carrying billions of rands worth of goods are currently stuck on either side of the blockage. Some vessels have been rerouted around Africa.
Foreign investigators believe it could take weeks to unwedge the 400m vessel, as every one of its 20,000 containers may need to be removed by a handful of cranes.
Lloyd’s List estimates that the Ever Given’s blockage of the canal is costing $400 million (R6 billion) per hour.
The London-based shipping news journal also estimated the value of cargo goods passing through the canal every day at $5.1 billion (R77 billion) travelling west and $4.6 billion (R69 billion) travelling east.
On Saturday 14 tugboats pulled and pushed the Ever Given at high tide in an attempt to dislodge it.
General Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority reported that despite complications caused by high winds and strong tides, the tugboats managed to move the ship “30 degrees from left and right.”
Twitter footage shows the tugboats honking their horns in celebration of this small victory.
Video source: @MarioLeb79
Picture source: @NASASpaceflight
