Home World Dislodging the huge ship blocking the Suez Canal could take ‘days to weeks,’ as the traffic jam builds

Dislodging the huge ship blocking the Suez Canal could take ‘days to weeks,’ as the traffic jam builds

2 min read
0
0
542

Shipping experts believe it could take days or even weeks to free the 224,000-ton vessel that is wedged across the Suez Canal, blocking one of the world’s busiest waterways since Tuesday.

The days-long crisis in Egypt started when a massive cargo vessel called the Ever Given drifted sideways in the Suez Canal Tuesday, effectively blocking the route with a mountain of human-made steel. The ship stretches nearly 400 metres long and is about 59 metres wide, making it one of the largest container vessels in the world .

The Ever Given, a container ship almost as long as the Empire State Building is tall, ran aground on March 23 after being caught in 40-knot winds and a sandstorm that caused low visibility and poor navigation, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a statement.

Late on Thursday evening, dredgers shifted their focus to removing sand and mud from around the port side of the bow of the large container ship, according to Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) the vessel’s technical manager.
“In addition to the dredgers already on site a specialized suction dredger is now with the vessel and will shortly begin work. This dredger can shift 2,000 cubic meters of material every hour,” a statement from BSM said.
All 25 crewmembers onboard the ship are Indian nationals and remain on the vessel, BSM also said.
Load More Related Articles
Load More By News Desk
Load More In World

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

We’ve got a Canadian in the US Open final – Trudeau

We’ve got a Canadian in the US Open final – Trudeau Leylah Fernandez entered into US Open …