Suez Canal Blockage

On March 23 around 8 am local time (UTC +2) a container vessel EVER GIVEN ran aground in the Suez Canal halting traffic of both ways. This accident occurred at 6 nautical miles from the southern entry of the Canal as the container ship proceeded northbound through the waterway from the Red Sea. EVER GIVEN is a 20,000 TEU-class container ship, currently leased by Evergreen Marine Corp. under a time charter agreement with the crew hired by the ship owner. It is one of the longest ships in service with a length of 400m and width of 59m, its gross tonnage is 219079 and is capable of travelling at peak speed of 22.8 knots. The ship got stuck diagonally due the high wind and dust storm in the busiest gateway to link Asia to Europe. A video showing ECDIS of the ship showed its movement was erratic and the ship seems to be going form 8 Knot at the entry point to 13 Knot after it entered the canal.

Evergreen Marine Corp. has stated in their official report released on about the incident that the cause of the grounding of the container ship was suspected due to gusting wind which was about 30nots. The Operators of the Suez Canal say that the accident could have been caused by technical or human error. The chairman of the Suez Canal Authority Osama Rabie said in a press release that more than just strong winds caused the accident. He said that an accident this big has several mistakes and several causes, part of it could be technical and part of it could be human error and both are undergoing investigation and everything will be clear after the investigation has completed. He also informed that possibility of removing the containers to free the ship is the third and the last option. To free the container ship multiple tug boats and excavators were used. Previously, they estimated that it would take weeks to free the boat but due to the arrival of more tug boats things could be different.

According to report published on March 29, 2021 by Evergreen Marine Corp. ship was freed at 13:26 UTC, 6 days after its initial grounding. The container ship which started its journey in Yantian, China and was bound to Rotterdam, Netherlands has stopped at 15:00 UTC in Great Bitter Lake, an artificial lake in the canal for inspection. Till the ship was freed it was estimated that nearly 400 ships were waiting in either side of the canal.