SUEZ CANAL UNBLOCKED

The grounded container vessel Ever Given has been successfully refloated in the Suez Canal by the salvage team of Boskalis subsidiary, SMIT Salvage.

Boskalis has announced the successful salvage operation of the grounded 20,000 TEU container vessel Ever Given in the Suez Canal. With a length of 400 metres and a width of nearly 60 metres this giant ship had been wedged in this vital shipping route since 23 March 2021 blocking all shipping traffic

Peter Berdowski, CEO Boskalis: “Shortly following the grounding of the Ever Given we were requested through SMIT Salvage to provide assistance with the salvage operation. I am excited to announce that our team of experts, working in close collaboration with the Suez Canal Authority, successfully refloated the Ever Given on 29 March at 15:05 hrs local time, thereby making free passage through the Suez Canal possible again. I’m extremely proud of the outstanding job done by the team on-site as well as the many SMIT Salvage and Boskalis colleagues back home to complete this challenging operation under the watchful eye of the world. The time pressure to complete this operation was evident and unprecedented and the result is a true display of our unique capabilities as a dredging and marine services provider.”

For the refloating of the 224,000-tonne container vessel approximately 30,000 cubic metres of sand was dredged to help free the vessel and a total of eleven harbor tugs and two powerful seagoing tugs (Alp Guard and Carlo Magna)
were deployed. The vessel is being towed to a location outside the channel for further inspection.

The canal will open for waiting vessel traffic end of day 29th of March.

Source Boskalis : https://boskalis.com/press/press-releases-and-company-news/detail/suez-canal-unblocked-we-pulled-it-off.html & Breakbulk.news: https://breakbulk.news/suez-canal-unblocked/