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Hundreds of backed-up ships can now resume their routes.

Last week, the massive freighter ship Ever Given ran aground on the banks of the Suez Canal in Egypt, blocking off one of the largest naval shipping lanes in the world. After getting stuck on Tuesday, local naval authorities spent nearly an entire week attempt to dig the ship off the bank and get it floating again so it could be moved out of the way, pushing back multiple naval shipping schedules in the process.


This morning, the jam was finally cleared as the Ever Given was successfully dug off the bank and refloated. According to the Suez Canal Authority, the ship “responded to the pulling and towing maneuvers,” and had successfully corrected its course by 80%. Monday’s usual high tide made the process of refloating the boat much easier than it otherwise would’ve been.

“Today, the Egyptians have succeeded in ending the crisis of the delinquent ship in the Suez Canal despite the tremendous technical complexity that surrounded this process from every side,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said Monday in a tweet.

The Ever Given is now on its way toward Great Bitter Lake, where it will undergo a full technical inspection. Meanwhile, now that the enormous vessel is finally out of the way, all of the ships its presence was blocking can finally resume their routes after nearly a week of delay. Over 350 vessels were waiting for the Ever Given to be moved, some of which opted instead to re-route around the Cape of Good Hope, costing those vessels approximately the same amount of shipping time and incurring additional fuel costs.