A Giant Container Ship Has Blocked the Suez Canal, And It's Costing $9.6 Billion Worth of Daily Marine Traffic The Ever Given container ship has been grounded since Tuesday.
By Justin Chan Edited by Jessica Thomas
A large cargo ship that has been grounded in Egypt's Suez Canal since Tuesday is costing $9.6 billion worth of daily marine traffic, according to Bloomberg.
The Ever Given container ship, a 224,000-ton vessel operated by Taiwan-based shipping company Evergreen Marine Corp., found itself wedged across one of the world's busiest waterways earlier this week, after it was caught in 40-knot winds and a sandstorm. The blockage has now left at least 185 ships carrying cargo in a standstill.
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Lloyd's List notes that the backup has impacted westbound traffic by about $5.1 billion a day and eastbound traffic by nearly $4.5 billion.
Of the ships that are now waiting to pass through the waterway, approximately 40 are bulk carriers, 35 are container ships and 32 are general cargo ships, Bloomberg reports. The outlet also points out that 17 of the ships are crude oil tankers and another 17 are chemical or products tankers. Vortexa senior freight analyst Arthur Richier further told Bloomberg that as much as 13 million barrels of crude oil on 10 tankers could be affected by the blockage.
According to AP, the Ever Given was built in 2018 and is one of the largest container ships in the world. At the time of the incident, it was carrying cargo between Asia and Europe. The ship's Japanese owner Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd. has since offered an apology for the inconvenience caused.
"We are determined to keep on working hard to resolve this situation as soon as possible," it said in a statement. "We would like to apologize to all parties affected by this incident, including the ships traveling and planning to travel through Suez Canal."
