Suez Canal blocked: Ever Given brings traffic to a standstill

Traffic on the Suez Canal has come to a standstill. The 400 meters long, 20,000 TEU mega-container ship has run aground and is now blocking the entire ship traffic on both sides of the waterway. Several tugs have been deployed to get the mega-ship out of the way. The ship in question is the Panama-registered, MV Ever Given (IMO: 9811000). The incident reportedly occurred on the morning of Tuesday, 23 March at around 7:40 am local time and at the 151 km mark, after the vessel suffered a power failure while crossing the canal, en route to Rotterdam, Netherlands from Yantian, China. The below picture was posted to Instagram by a user from a ship stuck behind the Ever Given: Photo courtesy: Julianne Cona on Instagram It is not yet clear how long it would take for the ship to be freed as a large amount of sand removal activity would be involved. All required measures are going on in full swing, considering the importance of the Suez canal for international trade. Almost 10% of international cargo passes through the canal, connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and is the shortest sea link between Asia and Europe. Below is a list of all the nearby vessels that face possible delays due to this incident.Ship NameIMOCapacity TEUNext portPlanned ETASeamax Greenwich92862678200Algeciras27.03.2021Tsingtao Express93207028600Jeddah26.03.2021Sagamore93220091700Maersk Denver93329996200Algeciras27.03.2021Nyk Orion93129999000Singapore03.04.2021Bf Esperanza9252785900Port Said24.03.2021YM Wish968464113900Jeddah26.03.2021Maersk Durban92990442500Iskenderun25.03.2021Maersk Esmeraldas950297213100Salalah27.03.2021Safmarine Nakuru93561032500Izmir26.03.2021Ever Excel92413226300Jeddah24.03.2021YM Fountain92780905600Piraeus26.03.2021MSC Roma93044479200Muhammad Bin Qasim29.03.2021Seamax Norwalk92904647500King Abdullah Port25.03.2021Egy Crown92161071100Damietta25.03.2021New York Express950133213000Singapore04.04.2021Maersk Seletar93151976500Djibouti27.03.2021Gunde Maersk93590147000Salalah27.03.2021Maersk Saigon93035348400Tanjung Pelepas03.04.2021Indian Express94051121100Ain Sokhna26.03.2021Taurus972894214000Antwerp28.03.2021CMA CGM Lisa Marie97290999400Jeddah28.03.2021Maersk Hanoi978429515200King Abdullah Port25.03.2021Cosco Shipping Leo978350219200Tianjin (Xingang)02.04.2021One crane974140114000Jeddah25.03.2021Cosco Shipping Peony978574413500Jung Tau06.04.2021Salahuddin970879614500Busan04.04.2021Ever Given981100020000Rotterdam31.03.2021Ever Globe978684120200Colombo29.03.2021 Details of all possibly affected nearby vessels Screen shot from Ocean Insight’s Container Track & Trace Republished with permission from Ocean Insights.