Ever Given returns to Suez Canal first time after March blockade

Ever Given, one of the world’s largest container ships, crossed the Suez Canal in Egypt on Friday for the first time since causing a six-day blockade of the waterway in March. The Ever Given was part of a convoy of 26 ships that sailed from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea after offloading its cargo in Europe, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said.

It was escorted by two tug boats and senior SCA guides as it made its way through the 193km  canal en route to Asia. All security measures were taken to ensure the safe crossing of the ship, the authority said in a series of tweets.

36 ships sailed in the opposite direction, the SCA added, hailing the Suez Canal as the “shortest and fastest navigational route linking the east with the west”.

The 400-metre, 220,000-tonne Ever Given had been delivering its 18,300 containers to Rotterdam, Felixstowe and Hamburg, according to BBC.

It is now travelling to China. Ever Given disrupted global shipping traffic for nearly a week until it was refloated on March 29 by a fleet of Egyptian tugboats and diggers in a massive operation that led to the death of one person. However, it set sail in July after being impounded for three months near the canal city of Ismailia, following a compensation deal between Egypt and the Ever Given’s Japanese owner Shoei Kisen.

The SCA initially asked for $916 million compensation for the cost of the salvage operation, damage to the canal’s banks and other losses before lowering its demand to $550 million. The terms of the final settlement were not revealed.

SCA head, Osama Rabie, had told a news conference that the authority would not change its rules about the passage of ships in bad weather even though the blockage had accelerated plans for the canal’s expansion.