The massive cargo ship Ever Given, which was involved in a six-day blockade of the Suez Canal in March, has re-entered the waterway for the first time since leaving Egypt after the incident.
According to the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), the ship, which was en route from the United Kingdom to China, entered the canal on Friday as part of a convoy of 26 vessels going from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. From the south, 36 ships made their way across the channel. The Ever Given was escorted through the canal by a crew of SCA senior pilots and two tugboats, according to the authority.
On March 23, heavy winds caused the Taiwanese-operated vessel, one of the world’s largest container ships, to become stuck in the canal, blocking traffic in both directions and disrupting global trade. The 400-meter cargo ship left Egypt on July 7, 106 days after becoming trapped across a southern section of the waterway, once it was removed.
After lengthy discussions and a settlement between the SCA and the ship’s Japanese owners and insurance, Egypt freed the Ever Given. On July 29, the ship docked in Rotterdam before sailing to Felixstowe.
The contents of the agreement were not made public, but Egypt requested more than $900 million in compensation at first, which it later reduced to $550 million. To avoid a repeat of the incident, the country approved a two-year project to widen and deepen the southern stretch of the canal where the ship ran aground.
