The Suez Canal blockage made the headlines after a cargo ship blocked the waters for almost one week. Finally, the situation became better last Friday. The number of ships waiting in transit fell to 206, as informed by the canal service firm Leth Agencies.
Suez Canal blockage eased by salvage teams
On March 29, rescue teams help free the enormous container ship. Their cooperation ended the ongoing crisis, which had clogged one of the busiest waterways in the world.
The Suez Canal blockage cost billions of dollars as per maritime commerce every single day. More than 420 ships were in line after the Japanese-owned ship blocked the canal. The name of the cargo ship is Ever Given and Panama-flagged.
Only after the ship was free, the rest of the ships could pass. Leth Agencies informed that 357 vessels crossed the Suez Canal after the ship re-floated. Further, a small fleet of tugboats made this possible with the help of tied.
Ever Given crashed onto the bank of a single-lane stretch of the Suez Canal. The location was six kilometers north of the southern entrance near Suez city.
The incident forced many ships to take a longer alternate route and by the Cape of Good Hope. It resulted in a 5000-kilometer detour that cost the ships thousands of dollars in fuel and other charges.
The rest of the ships waited for the blockage to get over. The shutdown was unprecedented and raised fears in terms of delays, shortages, increasing in cost. The incident strained the shipping industry that was already under a lot of economic pressure due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The industry now needs to prevent such instances from happening again as the losses incurred are humongous. Thus, precautions are being taken to avoid such a scenario from happening again, and for utilizing the waterway optimally.
