TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwan-chartered mega-ship that was stranded in the Suez Canal has been refloated and secured after a six-day ordeal that has cost global shippers billions of dollars in delays.
The Panama-flagged Ever Given, chartered by Evergreen Marine Corp. and owned by Japanese firm Shoei Kisen Kaisha, became wedged sideways in the Suez Canal on March 23. Each day that the ship was stuck saw US$9.6 billion in maritime traffic delayed.
At 4:30 a.m. Egypt time (10:30 a.m. Taipei time) on Monday (March 29), shipping service provider Inchcape Shipping reported on Twitter that the vessel had been "successfully re-floated" and was "being secured." It included a map that appeared to show the ship had been righted and moved away from the bank.
The MV Ever Given was successfully re-floated at 04:30 lt 29/03/2021. She is being secured at the moment. More information about next steps will follow once they are known. #suezcanel #maritime pic.twitter.com/ f3iuYYiRRi
— Inchcape Shipping (@Inchcape_SS) March 29, 2021
Evan Hill, a New York Times reporter, at 11:42 a.m., posted a video appearing to show the gargantuan ship having been freed and floating once again. At exactly the same time, Joyce Karam, senior correspondent at The National, posted a video in which crews could be heard cheering and ship's horns blaring to celebrate the moment the mammoth ship was "unstuck and moving" into the Suez Canal.
It is not yet known when traffic will resume in the canal.
The Ever Given is floating pic.twitter.com/GNzlzaom8q
— Evan Hill (@evanchill) March 29, 2021
BREAKING : EVER GIVEN ship has been UNSTUCK & Moving into #Suez Canal after 6 Days!!
Egyptian crew managed to float it moments ago. It’s 5:42 am there: pic.twitter.com/GoMlYjQerL
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) March 29, 2021
