The 400-meter-long ship called Ever Given was stranded in Egypt’s Suez Canal. It has been nearly a week that the ship was stuck, halting all the marine traffic. The ship was en route to the port Rotterdam in the Netherlands before running aground. The experts said, they never had heard anything like this in the canal’s 150 years’ history. Let’s dive into the details of the largest container ship!
What happened?
The Ever Given, a Panama flagged ship that carries cargo ran aground last Tuesday. It was lodged firmly into the embankments of each side of the Suez Canal. The ship ran aground after 40-knot winds and sandstorms that causes low visibility. The navigation was also poor due to the sandstorm. The ship contained 18,300 containers. It had all the goods from oil to natural gas and semiconductors.
The Ship Partially Refloated
Over the weekend, 14 tug boats pulled and pushed Ever Given in order to dislodge it. Meanwhile, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) deployed bulldozers to dig around the ship’s bow so that it would be easy to pull out the vessel. After the exhausted all efforts, the ship was dislodged this morning. The crew was safe and there were no injuries. The ship has been straightened alongside the canal bank. The marine traffic will soon be resumed. It was quite a long process to clear the blockage. It took six days straight.
How much the blockage costs?
About 12% of the global trade, around one million barrels of oil, and 8% of liquefied natural gas pass through the canal each day. The chief of SCA, General Rabie told that it had affected the revenue of the canal from $14 to $15 million, each day. Not only Egypt’s economy but also countless businesses were impacted. The true damage cannot be evaluated until the trade resumes. British firms told BBC that they’re still waiting for the goods to arrive. If the ship had stuck for another week, it could’ve done more damage. It would have cost billions of dollars for every second of delay.
Social Media Floating with Memes
Right when Ever Given was stuck in Suez Canal, people were posting memes and jokes on social media. The situation was no doubt destructive as it affected the global shipping industry. However, it was kind of funny as well because people started relating with Ever Given. It was quite obvious that the ship will be free soon. The social media users were demanding to “put it back”, saying that the ship needed to chill for a while. The hashtag “put it back” is trending on Twitter. There were plenty of memes on social media sites hilariously relating to people’s life. You can see a bunch of memes below.
Overview
The stranded ship in the Suez Canal has been refloated. We can’t ignore the fact that it has damaged many businesses globally. Apart from the seriousness of the matter, people joke about it on social media. The process of taking out the vessel was tough though the SCA worked day and night to dislodge the ship. They finally made it today.
