Suez Canal Reopens After Ever Given Re-Floated

Five days after the 400m-long (1,300ft) Ever Given ran aground in the Suez Canal, the ship has finally been dislodged and normal travel through the canal has resumed.

The ship ran aground Tuesday in the narrow, man-made canal. Concerns were high as the vessel was threatening to disrupt the global shipping system, which is already strained by the ongoing pandemic.

Initial reports blamed high winds and a sandstorm that affected visibility as the reason for the vessel becoming wedges in the canal. Now, Egyptian officials say human error may have contributed to the situation.

Now that the ship has been freed, traffic has resumed in Egypt's Suez Canal. The canal plays a crucial role in global trade as it links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.

Officials say that there are hundreds of ships waiting to pass through the canal and that the backlog of ships waiting to transit should be cleared within three days.

The ship was refloated with the help of dredgers, tugboats, and a supermoon that brought high tides.

Dredgers shifted more than 950,000 cubic feet of sand and dug down nearly 60 feet in order to free the vessel.

Even though the ship is now freed, experts believe the effect on global shipping could last weeks, or even months. It is estimated that the blockage caused about $9.6 billion in commercial losses per day.