Ever Given crisis: It may take “weeks” to unblock Suez canal; daily cargo losses $9.6 billion

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Experts have said it may take weeks to move the enormous Ever Given container ship which ran aground in the Suez Canal on Tuesday, blocking all shipping through the vital waterway, and causing some $9.6 billion per day in lost cargo traffic worldwide, the Washington Examiner reported Thursday.

Now wedged horizontally across the man-made Egyptian canal, the massive 220,000 ton, 1,300 foot Ever Given is fully loaded with cargo it was taking from China to Holland, the Examiner said.

Droves of tug boats have been dispatched to pull the ship free, so far to no avail. In a statement, Peter Berdowski, CEO of Dutch Company Boskalis that is helping to try and move the Ever Given, said: “We can’t exclude it might take weeks, depending on the situation.”
There are currently some 185 ships waiting to pass through the canal: around 50 ships pass through it a day.

Apologizing to the public Wednesday, Shoei Kisen, the Japanese company which owns the Ever Given, said in a statement: “We sincerely apologize for causing a great deal of concern.” The company blamed “stormy weather” for the crisis. All 25 crew members on the Ever Given are safe and uninjured.

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