Suez Canal Blocked: How the Ship was Freed

With the Suez Canal blocked it is causing major issues with supply chain. Billions of dollars worth of merchandize needs to get through the canal. Experts are working around the clock to speed up dislodging the cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal and causing a major traffic jam. This video goes through various options of how to dislodge the ship.

The ship is freed and this is how they did it.

Ship Blocking the Suez Canal

In March 2021, the Ever Given, a large container ship, became stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. The incident caused a major disruption to global trade, as hundreds of ships were unable to pass through the canal.

Here is an overview of how the ship was freed:

Initial efforts: Initially, efforts were made to refloat the ship using tugboats and dredgers to remove sand and mud from around the vessel. These efforts were largely unsuccessful, and the ship remained stuck in the canal.
High tide: The next step was to wait for high tide, which occurs when the water level in the canal is at its highest. This was expected to help lift the ship and allow it to be refloated.
Additional efforts: In the meantime, additional efforts were made to free the ship, including the use of bulldozers to dig away at the sand and mud around the vessel.
Success: On March 29, 2021, the Ever Given was finally freed from the canal after six days of being stuck. It was able to move again after high tide lifted the vessel and the efforts to remove sand and mud were successful.

Overall, the Ever Given was freed from the Suez Canal after six days of being stuck by a combination of high tide, tugboats, dredgers, bulldozers, and other efforts. The incident caused a major disruption to global trade and highlighted the importance of the Suez Canal as a key shipping route.

Suez Canal and Shipping Quotes

“Ninety percent of what we wear, we eat, we consume is carried by ships… Container ships carry a vast amount of stuff.” ~Rose George
“I’m actually the son of Mary Guibert. My mother was born in the Panama Canal zone and came to America when she was five with my grandmother and grandfather, and that was the family I knew. Everybody sang; everybody had songs all the time, and they loved music.” ~Jeff Buckley
“Before containers, transport costs ate up 25 percent of the value of whatever was being shipped.” ~Rose George
“Between 1945 and 1965, the number of colonial people ruled by the British monarch plunged from 700 million to five million. In 1956, just three years after the coronation, the Suez canal crisis and Anthony Eden’s humiliation ended all notions that Britain was a world superpower.” ~Kate Williams
“Seven million ship cargo containers come into the United States every year. Five to seven percent only are inspected – five to seven percent.” ~Irwin Redlener
“Ships are obliged to take on harbor or river pilots – who provide specialized local navigation – when they approach a port, but in the canal, a Suez crew is also obligatory. The crew members are there in case the ship needs to be moored during the canal transit, but this rarely happens.” ~Rose George