After nearly a week of being wedged across one of the world's most significant trade routes, a massive container ship has been freed.
The Ever Given, a Panama-flagged ship owned by a Japanese company that transports cargo between Asia and Europe, became stuck in a single-lane portion of the Suez Canal on Tuesday.
According to maritime services provider Inchcape Shipping, the large vessel was successfully refloated today.
Inchcape Shipping tweeted, "She is being guarded at the moment."
"Once the next steps are understood, more detail will be given."
A special US Navy team was sent to the Suez Canal to provide assistance to local authorities who were attempting to free the container ship.
Traffic through the canal, worth $11.78 billion a day, has been halted after it became wedged, further disrupting a global shipping network already strained by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Egyptian government agreed to consider American military dredging experts' offer of assistance, which was relayed via the US Embassy in Cairo.
"The Biden administration is keeping a close eye on the situation. As part of our ongoing dialogue with Egypt, we have offered Egyptian authorities US assistance in reopening the canal. We're discussing how we can better help our Egyptian partners' efforts with them "According to a US official.
Two more tugboats arrived in the Suez Canal yesterday to assist in the effort to free the Ever Given, despite the fact that major shippers are increasingly diverting their ships for fear of the vessel taking any longer to free.
The Dutch-flagged Alp Guard and the Italian-flagged Carlo Magno, which were dispatched to assist tugboats already in the region, arrived in the Red Sea near Suez early Sunday, according to satellite data from MarineTraffic.com.
As dredgers begin to vacuum up sand from underneath the vessel and mud-caked to its port side, tugboats will nudge the 400-meter-long Ever Provided, according to Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, which manages the vessel.
Two attempts to free the vessel were scheduled for yesterday, coinciding with high tides, according to a top pilot with the canal authority.
