Iran Press/Africa: A marine source said that vessels were traveling southwards towards the Red Sea after the 400-meter (430-yard) long vessel Ever Given was freed undamaged earlier on Monday.
Egypt’s Leth Agencies said 43 vessels had resumed transit from the Great Bitter Lake, which separates two sections of the canal.
“The ship came out intact and it has no problems. We’ve just searched the bottom and soil of the Suez Canal and thankfully it is sound and has no issues, and ships will pass through it today,” the Suez Canal Authority’s (SCA) chairman Osama Rabie earlier told Nile TV.
The Ever Given had become jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early last Tuesday, halting traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
Early on Monday rescue workers from the SCA working with a team from Dutch firm Smit Salvage partially refloated the ship and straightened it in the canal. After several hours it shifted briefly back across the canal before being maneuvered free by tugs as the tide changed, a canal source said.
“The time pressure to complete this operation was evident and unprecedented,” said Peter Berdowski, CEO of Smit Salvage owner Boskalis, after the Ever Given was refloated.
The company said approximately 30,000 cubic meters of sand had to be dredged to refloat the 224,000-ton container ship and a total of 11 tugs and two powerful sea tugs were used to pull the ship free.
Evergreen Line, which is leasing the Ever Given, confirmed the ship had been successfully refloated and said it would be repositioned in a lake that sits between two sections of the canal and inspected for seaworthiness.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), the technical manager of the container ship, said there were no reports of pollution or cargo damage.
At least 400 vessels are waiting to transit the canal, including dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels, Nile TV reported.
The authority said earlier it would be able to accelerate convoys through the canal once the Ever Given was freed. “We will not waste one second,” Rabie told Egyptian state TV.
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