A giant ship crashed into the Suez Canal on Tuesday, blocking all ship traffic and creating a wreck on one of the world’s busiest trade routes.
Ever Date, a 400-meter container ship, was blocked in the side channel, with the bow embedded in one bench and the stern almost touching the other, according to the ship’s operators and images posted on social media.
The ship, operated by the Taiwanese Evergreen Group, is one of the largest ocean-going ships. It can move more than 20,000 containers and is taller than the Empire State Building if upright.
“There are at least 100 ships waiting to transit between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean,” said a London broker. “The tugs are trying to re-float it, but it won’t be easy.”
The Suez Canal Authority, which operates the canal, was not immediately available for comment. An Evergreen spokesman said the ship was probably hit by strong winds “causing the hull to derail and detach”.
Leth Agencies, the Suez Canal’s maritime service provider, said in a note to customers that about 42 ships traveling north through the canal are inactive, along with 64 ships sailing south.
The Suez Canal is a vital trade route for oil tankers carrying oil and natural gas, along with cargo ships carrying manufactured goods such as clothing, electronics and heavy machinery from Asia to Europe and vice versa. About 19,000 ships crossed the Suez Canal in 2020, according to the Suez Canal Authority.
The Ever Give is owned by the Japanese Shoei Kisen and is operated on a long-term charter by Evergreen. According to the delivery data, sail to Rotterdam from China.
Parts of the 120-mile-long Suez Canal are a single-lane waterway with a width of up to 300 feet. Ships transit in convoys north and south. Any ship that is stranded can stop others from completing the transit.
Gulf Agency Co., another channel service provider, said Ever Date was sailing north as part of a convoy when it crashed around 7 a.m. Tuesday local time. More than a dozen ships behind it have moved to anchorages pending the clearing of the waterway, Gulf said in a statement to customers.
“There are ships in front of and behind us, as far as you can see,” said Manolis Kritikos, a mechanic at an oil tanker operating in Greece.
—Joanne Chiu contributed to this article.
Write to Costas Paris la [email protected]
Copyright © 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8