Expecting Full-Scale Tow Operation After Successful Salvage Work
Egyptian Authorities Likely to Investigate Cause Following Incident Management
[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Egyptian authorities announced that the salvage operation for the large container ship Ever Given, which was grounded in the Suez Canal, has been successful, and the vessel has returned to its normal route and is planned to be moved soon to the Red Sea area outside the canal. As the grounding incident enters the recovery phase, Egyptian authorities are expected to begin a full-scale investigation into the cause of the accident.
According to foreign media including AFP on the 29th (local time), the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) stated that the salvage operation for the Ever Given, which was grounded inside the canal, was successful and the ship has returned to its normal route. The Ever Given was restored to a direction parallel to both embankments of the canal along the normal route, and it is known that the ship will soon start its engine and, together with tugboats, exit the canal into the Red Sea.
Marine service provider Inchcape also reported via Twitter that the grounded vessel has successfully refloated. Vessel location information service VesselFinder.com also showed that the direction of the Ever Given, which had been blocking the waterway after the accident, has largely returned to parallel with the waterway.
As the incident enters the recovery phase, Egyptian authorities are expected to begin a full-scale investigation into the cause of the accident. Depending on the cause of the Ever Given accident, massive compensation lawsuits are anticipated, drawing international shipping industry attention to the authorities' investigation. The Ever Given, a Panama-flagged vessel that departed from China on the 23rd and was heading to Rotterdam, Netherlands, has yet to have its exact cause of grounding determined.
The crew of the Ever Given claim that during the passage through the Suez Canal, a sandstorm with wind speeds exceeding 50 meters per second swept through, severely limiting visibility, and that the accident was caused by a natural disaster due to the ship being violently shaken by waves. However, they have not provided an exact reason why the Ever Given, weighing over 220,000 tons, lost direction and ran aground on a sandbar. Egyptian authorities are expected to investigate whether the shipping company concealed any hull abnormalities or malfunctions before departure or if there was a navigational error during operation.
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