The Suez Canal Situation:, What Happened.
For the past week, the Ever Given's unfortunate blockage of the Suez Canal has dominated news headlines across the world.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Ever Given and its brief yet impactful stay in the Suez Canal.
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What is the Ever Given?, The Ever Given is a Japanese-owned container ship that is nearly a quarter-mile long; one of the world’s largest.
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What is the Suez Canal?, The canal runs through Egypt and connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean.
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This cuts voyage times by days or weeks, as it eliminates the need for ships to circumnavigate Africa.
Why was it stuck for so long?, On March 23, The Ever Given ran aground in the canal due to high winds and poor visibility.
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Because of its massive size and weight (200,000 metric tons), efforts to free the ship were extremely difficult.
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How was it eventually freed?, The Ever Given was finally freed after six days of salvage teams working on both land and water.
The ship was pulled with tugboats, dredging was done underneath the hull and the canal embankment underwent excavation.
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How did the blockage impact trade?, The Suez Canal handles about 10 percent of global maritime commercial traffic.
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By the time the Ever Given was freed, there were 367 vessels waiting to travel through the canal.
It’s estimated that the Suez traffic jam caused about $10 billion in delayed trade each day.