The massive container ship that has been stuck in the Suez Canal for six days was reportedly back afloat on Sunday night.
The Ever Given “was successfully re-floated,” after running aground last Tuesday in the crucial global shipping waterway, the maritime services provider Inchcape said on Twitter.
“She is being secured at the moment,” the company added.
Canal services firm Leth Agencies, meanwhile, reported the Ever Given had been “partially refloated,” without noting when it would be completely freed up.
Early Monday, the head of the Suez Canal Authority, Lt. Gen. Osama Rabei, said workers were still completing “pulling maneuvers” to refloat the vessel.
Authorities earlier Sunday had brought two more powerful tugboats in the canal, bringing the total to 14 tugs working on moving the ship.
A mass of rock underneath the ship’s bow had made freeing the ship difficult. Dredgers shifted more than 950,000 cubic feet of sand and dug down nearly 60 feet.
The blockage caused delays to at least 369 boats, which lined up in a massive traffic jam waiting to pass through the canal, which handles up to 15 percent of world trade.
Authorities are investigating how the Ever Given, which is about the length of the Empire State Building, become wedged in the canal.
Initial reports blamed high winds and a sandstorm that affected visibility.
But over the weekend, Egyptian officials said human error may have contributed to the ship running aground.
Sunday night’s breakthrough comes as workers were set to begin offloading some of its 18,300 containers to lighten the load on Monday.
The nearly-week long blockage of the busy waterway has caused about $9.6 billion in commercial losses per day, according to economic estimates calculated by Bloomberg, as ships that should have been heading between Europe and Asia stayed immobilized.
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March 29, 2021 at 11:12AM
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Massive ship Ever Given 're-floated' after blocking Suez Canal for six days - New York Post
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