Suez Canal temporarily suspends navigation as massive ship blocks waterway

Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) on March 25 said that it was ‘temporarily suspending navigation’ through one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes until the grounded container vessel MV Ever Given is refloated. The announcement on Thursday came after low tide overnight decelerated the efforts to dislodge the jam.

The Panama-flagged Ever Given vessel ran aground diagonally across the single-lane stretch of the southern canal on March 23 morning after it lost the ability to steer amid the high winds as well as a dust storm. The Suez Canal navigation has been suspended only until the floatation works of the large Panamanian container vessel are complete.

The SCA statement on March 25 said, “Admiral Osama Rabie, Chairman and Managing Director of the Suez Canal Authority has announced today; Thursday March 25th, 2021, that navigation through the Suez Canal is temporarily suspended. That is only until the floatation works of the large Panamanian container vessel EVER GIVEN; that ran aground at the 151 km area (Canal Marking), are complete.”

“The floatation efforts included towing and pushing the grounding vessel using 8 large tugboats; largest of which is BARAKA 1 with a towing power of 160 tons,” it added.

The crew in the ship is safe, says the management company

The 25-member crew inside the skyscraper-sized cargo ship that wedged across the Suez Canal on Tuesday and further imperilled the global shipping is safe, said the Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the company that manages the Ever Given. As per the Associated Press report, on Thursday at least 150 other vessels required to pass through the crucial artificial waterway waiting for the obstruction to clear out. 

“Initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding,” the company said as Tuesday incident marked the second major crash involving the Eve Given in recent years. Earlier in 2019, the cargo ship had run into a small ferry on the Elbe River in the German port city of Hamburg. 

Image credits: suezcanal.gov.