Ever Given 2021 Suez blockage
The March 2021 grounding that closed the Suez Canal, the salvage operation, and what it showed about single-lane redundancy.
The container ship Ever Given grounded across the Suez Canal on 23 March 2021, closing the waterway in both directions. The Suez Canal Authority announced a successful refloating on 29 March 2021, reporting that push and tow maneuvers had restored 80 percent of the vessel’s direction with the stern 102 m from the bank against 4 m before refloating, and stated on 31 March 2021 that navigation was back in both directions with the canal operating at full capacity around the clock.
Salvage assets included two Authority dredgers, 15 tugs and nearly 600 workers. The grounding happened in a single-lane reach with no bypass, which is the configuration with no redundancy at all, and it is part of the reason the Authority extended the two-way section under its southern sector development completed in 2025.
The flag state investigated and published: Panama Maritime Authority report R-026-2021-DIAM records a northbound transit from Tanjung Pelepas to Rotterdam, a grounding on the eastern bank at km 151 at 07:41 local time, and a root cause of loss of manoeuvrability with wind, squat and bank effect contributing.
The full article will cover the grounding and its investigation, the salvage engineering, the arrest and settlement, the general average declaration, and the commercial and insurance consequences.