Salvage teams have finally freed a colossal container ship that has been stuck sideways in the Suez Canal for nearly a week.
Leth Agencies said Monday that the vessel had been refloated in the canal, one of the world’s most crucial arteries for trade.
Helped by the peak of high tide, a flotilla of tugboats managed to wrench the bow of the skyscraper-sized Ever Given from the sandy back of the crucial waterway, where it had been firmly lodged since last Tuesday.
The freeing of the ship came after officials said the ship was partially refloated thanks to tugboats that pushed and pulled while the full moon's tides raised the water level.
As the freed ship moved along the canal, the tugboats blared their horns in jubilation.
The giant vessel now heads toward the Great Bitter Lake, a wide stretch of water halfway between the north and south ends of the canal, where it will be inspected for damage.
Why should you care about a stuck ship? Well, the canal is a crucial waterway for the world’s economy.
Due to the incident, hundreds of other ships carrying a wide range of goods like oil, livestock and electronics were unable to pass.
Officials estimate the obstruction held up about $9 billion in global trade each day other boats were not able to pass.
The obstruction also strained supply chains that were already hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.
