Suez Canal Authority diverts sailing into two directions after ship stranded

After the container ship "Mega Ship" stranded due to weather conditions, Egypt's Suez Canal Authority (SCA) decided to pert the ship transit system to two directions in the old canal.

An ultra-large containership is aground and blocking ship traffic in the Suez Canal.

AIS data shows the MV Ever Given is stuck sideways within the canal, preventing ships from passing in either direction. Several tugs have been on scene for several hours working to dislodge the ship.

Shipping agent GAC reports that the grounding occurred at 7:40 a.m. local time on Tuesday (March 23) at kilometer 151 after the vessel suffered a black out while transiting.

It seems the Ever Given had just begun its transit of the waterway as part of a northbound convoy when the incident occurred.

“The 199,489 GT ship was fifth in the northbound convoy.

None of the vessels before it were affected, but the 15 behind it were detained at anchorages waiting for the Canal to be cleared.

The southbound convoy was also blocked,” GAC reported.

An AIS screen grab from MarineTraffic.com shows the Ever Given’s position within the Suez Canal.

At 400-meters in length and over 20,000 TEU capacity, the MV Ever Given is among the largest of so-called “mega ships”, aka ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs), currently in operation.

The MV Ever Given is underway to Rotterdam.

The picture below was posted to social media by a person on the ship stuck behind the Ever Given.