Evergreen line confirmed that Ever Given successfully refloated within the Suez Canal. The shipping company announced that the vessel was repositioned to the Great Bitter Lake in the Canal for an inspection of its seaworthiness.
Ever Given is a 20,000 TEU-class container ship, which is currently leased by Taiwanese Transport Company Evergreen Marine Corp. under a time charter agreement. The ship is deployed on a Far East-Europe service route. The ship admeasuring 400 meters in length and 60 meters in width jammed in this vital shipping route since March 23, blocking shipping traffic.
Blockage and its effects on trade
Some 450 ships got stuck after Ever Given jammed in the Suez Canal, according to media reports. Experts believe that clearing the backlog would be a lengthy process.
It is estimated that around 1mn barrels of oil and roughly 8pc of liquefied natural gas pass through Suez Canal each day. Due to this jam, the canal’s revenue dropped by $14mn-15mn for each day of six-day blockage. According to Moody, Suez Canal contributed 2pc of Egypt’s GDP.
The cost of hiring vessels to ship cargo to and from Asia and the Middle East increased by 47pc to 2.2mn, according to media reports. Due to the blockage, some vessels have been routed to avoid Suez Canal, thus adding around 8.5 days to their total journey.