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29th Mar 2021

Ever Given is finally dislodged from Suez Canal

Simon Lloyd

Dry your eyes, meme makers: the show’s over

After an entire week spent wedged across the Suez Canal, Ever Given, the giant container ship we’ve all come to know and love, is finally free.

A massive salvage operation, which encountered plenty of hiccups along the way, finally paid off on Monday as the 400-metre-long vessel was finally dislodged.

The Suez is one of the world’s busiest trade routes, and so having it completely blocked for seven days has been far from ideal for an awful lot of people, causing a massive backlog of boat traffic.

https://twitter.com/alvinfoo/status/1376295695821369345

Traffic is now set to resume on the waterway, which connects the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, meaning hundreds of boats are now free to press ahead.

What the huge container ship’s grounding didn’t do for global trade, it more than made up for in memes, swiftly becoming the subject of countless silly internet-based jokes after it became stuck last week.

Several videos have been posted of the vessel being towed away in disgrace since it became dislodged. Other boats can be hear blasting their horns in celebration.

It is said to be on its way to safety checks at Great Bitter Lake, which lies between two sections of the canal north of where the ship got stuck.