HOW WAS THE SUEZ CANAL SHIP FREED?

Do you know how they managed to free the giant container ship that was stuck in the Suez Canal? Well, read on to find out.

On the 23rd of March 2021, a gigantic container ship called the Ever Given – carrying a full payload – got stuck in the Suez Canal, which rendered the busiest waterway in the world completely useless.

At a loss of billions of US dollars per day, the ship blocking the Suez Canal needed to be freed as soon as possible. But this is no easy task, for a number of reasons. Container ships are the heaviest moving objects in the world, so a tug boat won't work and, on top of that, the bow of the ship was wedged into the sand.

Peter Berdowski, CEO of the Dutch maritime salvage company, Boskalis, was assigned to free the large vessel. He explains the task is all about physics and quotes: "You have to make the physics work for you".

In order to free the vessel, at least eight tug boats were used in conjunction with several diggers to movie landmass from around the bow. They also had to manipulate the ships ballast water levels to alter the ship's centre of gravity.

Take a look at the video below by YouTube channel, Reuters, on Explainer: How the Suez Canal Ship Was Freed.