Vessel Finder has posted a video of a satellite feed created using an onboard tracker which shows the Ever Given cargo container ship veering in the Suez Canal and running aground, blocking the route.
According to the statement by Evergreen Marine Corp., a major Taiwan-based shipping company that operates the ship, the vessel crashed due to strong winds as it entered the canal.
According to the owner of the cargo ship, Japanese firm Shoei Kisen KK, at least 10 tugboats were deployed to refloat the vessel. According to the firm’s president, there are possible plans to remove containers from the cargo ship to lighten the vessel if refloating efforts fail. Now, workers are dredging the banks and seafloor near the vessel's bow to refloat it.
Egypt's Suez Canal Authority said that to refloat the ship, between 15,000 and 20,000 cubic metres of sand would have to be removed.
The canal blockage has caused costly delays or diversions to longer routes for other vessels and created a traffic jam of over 200 ships.
