Massive container ship stuck in Suez Canal ‘partially refloated,’ traffic expected to resume shortly

A giant container ship that has been stuck across the Suez Canal for over a day, has been “partially refloated.” Maritime traffic through the important waterway is expected to resume as soon as the vessel is towed away.

The efforts to dislodge the Ever Given container ship from the Canal came to fruition on Wednesday afternoon. The news was broken by port agent GAC, citing the Suez Canal Authority.

“The grounded vessel has been partially refloated and is now alongside the Canal bank. Convoys and traffic are expected to resume as soon as vessel is towed to another position,” it said.

Later in the day, however, Ahmed Mekawy, an assistant manager at GAC’s Egypt office, told Reuters that the vessel remained stuck in the canal, with the authorities still trying to properly refloat it. It remains unclear when the traffic though the waterway will resume.

The Ever Given is one of the world’s largest container ships in service, at 400 meters long and 95 meters wide – slightly more than three football fields in a row. The behemoth vessel managed to get stuck in the Canal on Tuesday just north of the Egyptian port of Suez.

Multiple tug boats were dispatched to help the ship wiggle itself out. Digging machines – looking like miniature toys in comparison to the Ever Given – were deployed to try and widen the already massive canal. Footage from the scene suggested the ship ran aground and got stuck in the canal shore with its bulbous bow.

The accident caused a massive traffic jam in the usually-busy waterway, with dozens of ships on both sides of the canal waiting for the Ever Given to free itself from the ‘narrow’ spot.

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