Four months after blocking the Suez Canal (Egypt), the giant container ship Ever Given finally arrived at its destination this Thursday in the port of Rotterdam (Netherlands).
The 400-meter vessel with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes will be able to be unloaded.
“It was a great relief to see him and a special moment,” said Hans Nagtegaal, Container Manager at the Port of Rotterdam.
“Finally, we can do the unloading job and hopefully get it back to a normal sailing routine,” he continued.
The Ever Given will remain in Rotterdam until Monday when it weighs anchor for Felixstowe, UK, before sailing to a dry dock in Dunkirk, France, where it will undergo further examinations.
The giant ship had blocked the Suez Canal for six days at the end of March, after being embedded in the east side of the waterway, getting in the way of this crucial crossing point which accounts for around 10% of world trade.
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The clearance operations lasted six days and required more than ten tugs as well as dredges to dig the bottom of the canal. The Ever Given was then directed towards the great Amer Lake, in the center of the canal, by the Egyptian authorities. They are now claiming pharaonic compensation from the shipowner for the damage caused by the incident. Or several hundred million dollars.