More than four months after the blockade in the Suez Canal, the container ship “Ever Given” entered the port of Rotterdam.
The ship docked early Thursday morning with around 14,000 containers from China on board, as the port authority announced.
At the end of March, the "Ever Given" ran aground after a sandstorm and lay across the Suez Canal.
For six days she blocked the internationally important waterway between Asia and Europe and with it hundreds of other ships.
After the salvage, the 400-meter-long ship was confiscated by the canal authorities. The had demanded compensation of more than 460 million euros. The authorities had only reached an agreement with the Japanese shipowner at the beginning of July, and the ship was able to continue its voyage. How much was paid for the damage in the end is not known. The "Ever Given" sails under the Panamanian flag and was chartered by a company based in Taiwan before the accident.
According to the port, all containers destined for Europe are to be unloaded in Rotterdam, including those with the final destination Hamburg. You are to be taken to the Hanseatic city on another ship. The ship had loaded numerous different products such as spare parts for cars, bicycles, calendars, garden furniture, clothing, but also food. It is unclear how many goods can no longer be sold due to the months of delay. At the beginning of next week, the "Ever Given" should leave Rotterdam again and go to Felixstowe in the UK.