Peter
Berdowski, CEO of Dutch salvage company Boskalis, said the Ever Given
had been refloated at 15:05 (13:05 GMT) on Monday, "thereby making free
passage through the Suez Canal possible again".
image copyrightReuters
image captionThe Ever Given on the move on Monday
The
vessel was being towed for safety checks to the Great Bitter Lake,
which sits between two sections of the canal to the north of where the
ship got stuck.
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi thanked Egyptians for their efforts in "ending the crisis" in the canal.
Disruption
to global trade will not end with the refloating of the Ever Given.
According to Lloyd's List, there are currently more than 370 ships
waiting to pass through the canal, including container vessels, tankers,
and bulk carriers. Clearing that backlog is expected to take several
days.
Some
ships have already left the region, preferring to take an alternative,
longer route around the southern tip of Africa. They will be joined by
other vessels travelling from East Asia to Europe - whose operators have
decided not to risk waiting for the canal to reopen.
Inevitably,
cargoes will be reaching their destination much later than planned.
There may be congestion when they arrive in port, while future sailing
schedules have been thrown into disarray.
The
cost of shipping goods to Europe is expected to rise as a result.
Industry experts are warning that the knock-on effects on delicately
balanced supply chains could be felt for months to come.
How was the ship freed?
The 200,000-tonne Ever Given ran aground last Tuesday morning amid high winds and a sandstorm that affected visibility.
To
refloat it, Boskalis deployed a specialist salvage team, SMIT Salvage
Papendrecht. They first freed the stern, with the bow following, despite
high winds.
Approximately
30,000 cubic metres of sand were dredged, with a total of 11 harbour
tugs and two powerful seagoing tugs deployed.
On
Sunday, canal officials had begun preparing to remove some of roughly
18,000 containers on board in order to lighten the load.
The
containers are carrying a huge variety of items and the insured value
of the cargo is believed to amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Meanwhile,
the Ever Given will undergo a full inspection at Great Bitter Lake, the
vessel's technical managers, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, said.
It
said there had been no reports of pollution or cargo damage, and
initial investigations had ruled out any mechanical or engine failure as
a cause of the grounding last week.
The
ship's Indian crew of 25 remain aboard the vessel are safe and in good
health, BSM said, adding: "Their hard work and tireless professionalism
are greatly appreciated."
image captionMore than 230 ships are waiting to enter the Suez Canal, through which all navigation has been suspended
The
blockage of Egypt's Suez canal by a giant container ship is causing a
"traffic jam" in the Red Sea, according to a merchant seaman on a nearby
ship.
Joe
Reynolds, chief engineer of the Maersk Ohio, told the BBC the number of
vessels waiting at the canal's southern entrance was "growing
exponentially".
"It's going to affect shipping schedules around the world," he warned.
Tugboats and dredgers are trying to dislodge the Ever Given, which is wedged diagonally across the waterway.
The
400m-long (1,300ft), 200,000-tonne vessel ran aground on Tuesday
morning amid high winds and a sandstorm that affected visibility.
Specialist
salvage companies have been brought in to help refloat the ship, and an
adviser to Egypt's president has said he hopes the situation will be
resolved within two to three days. But experts have said it could take
weeks if the vessel's containers need to be removed.
About
12% of global trade passes through the 193km (120-mile) canal, which
connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and provides the shortest
sea link between Asia and Europe.
An alternative route, around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, can take two weeks longer.
Mr
Reynolds told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the Maersk Ohio, a
US-flagged container ship that is 292m long and weighs 50,000 tonnes,
was "stacked up" alongside dozens of other vessels near Port Suez.
"I
think you can imagine there was a queue of ships waiting to go through
to begin with, and now that queue has just grown exponentially," he
said. "Standing outside, as you look, everywhere around you is ships."
media captionA salvage company, working to free the Ever Given, says the operation could take weeks
He
said there was still a lot of work to be done on board his ship, and
that he and his fellow crewmembers had not yet had a chance to
communicate with the other vessels.
"It's
just a long waiting game. There's not a lot to see... We are ships
sitting at anchor, just waiting as if you were in a traffic jam on the
M5," he added, referring to a British motorway.
How the stranded Ever Given is affecting shipping in the Suez Canal
Tap or click for more details
Source: VesselsValue
Despite the delay, Mr Reynolds expressed sympathy for the Ever Given's 25 Indian crew members.
"As
sailors, we complain a lot about things. But we also understand when
other sailors are in a fix or other seamen are working really hard day
and night to try to correct a situation. We've all been there," he said.
About
10 tugboats and two dredger vessels are working to refloat the Ever
Given. Diggers and other machinery operating on the banks are also
assisting.
image copyrightMaxar Technologies
image captionThe Ever Given is almost as long as Manhattan's Empire State Building is high
The
Ever Given's technical mangers, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, said
another attempt to refloat the vessel on Friday had failed, and that the
salvage operation was now focused on removing sand and mud from around
the port (left) side of the vessel's bow.
A
specialised suction dredger, which can shift 2,000 cubic metres (70,000
cubic feet) of material every hour, arrived on site on Thursday, it
added.
Arrangements
are also being made for high-capacity pumps to reduce the water levels
in the vessel's forward void space and the bow thruster room.
Another two tugs will arrive by Sunday, when a higher tide is expected.
image copyrightReuters
image captionDredging vessels are working around the clock to help refloat the Ever Given
John
Denholm, president of the UK Chamber of Shipping, told the BBC that if
the diggers and tugs were not successful, salvage teams would have to
start the slow process of "lightering" the ship - transferring its cargo
to another vessel or the canal bank.
That
would involve bringing in specialist equipment, including a crane that
would need to stretch more than 60m (200ft) high, he said.
"If we go through the lightering process, I suspect we're talking weeks."
Mr
Reynolds said the Maersk Ohio, which started its voyage in the Gulf and
was headed to northern Europe via the Mediterranean, still had a
"little wriggle-room" in its schedule.
"If
it goes more than five days, then we start to see our schedule back up.
I'm sure other ships are on a much tighter schedule than we were...
It's going to affect shipping schedules all around the world."
Service
provider Leth Agencies said a total of 237 vessels were waiting in the
area on Friday - 107 at Port Suez in the Red Sea, 41 at the canal's
midway point in the Great Bitter Lake, and 89 at Port Said in the
Mediterranean.
image copyrightEPA
image captionAlmost 19,000 ships passed through the Suez Canal last year
The
blockage is holding up an estimated $9.6bn (£7bn) of goods each day -
or $400m an hour - according to data from Lloyd's List.
The shipping journal said two major companies, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, were looking into whether to re-route their vessels.
The
first container ship to opt for the longer journey around the Cape of
Good Hope was the Ever Given's sister ship, the Ever Greet, both of
which are operated by the Taiwanese firm Evergreen Marine, it added.
Richard
Meade, the editor of Lloyd's List, told the BBC that the risk of piracy
to vessels off the coast of Africa had been overblown to some extent.
"Obviously,
we did see a major piracy surge a few years ago off the Somali coast.
That has largely been brought under control," he told the BBC. "The Gulf
of Guinea is the hotspot. But I think realistically you would see ships
move well outside the Gulf of Guinea as the route."
Did you witness the incident? Are you on board another vessel on the Suez Canal? Tell us your story by emailing: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please
include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC
journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
image captionPresident Biden also called the law "an atrocity"
US
President Joe Biden has likened a new voting law in the state of
Georgia to racist policies of the 20th Century American South, calling
it an atrocity.
The law adds restrictions to voting that Mr Biden said disproportionately targeted black Americans.
In
a strongly-worded statement, the president called it "Jim Crow in the
21st century" and "a blatant attack on the Constitution".
He later added that the justice department was "taking a look" at it.
In
last year's presidential election, Mr Biden became the first Democratic
candidate to win Georgia since 1992 - and it was high turnout among
black Americans that was believed to have tipped the state in his
favour.
The state was also at the heart of false claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election.
What has President Biden said?
"Recount
after recount and court case after court case upheld the integrity and
outcome of a clearly free, fair, and secure democratic process," Mr
Biden said in the statement, released on Friday.
Describing the new law he said: "This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century. It must end."
Jim Crow refers to the 19th and 20th Century laws that enforced racial segregation in the US South.
Among
the restrictions are new voter identification requirements for absentee
ballots, and a limit on the use of ballot drop boxes that make it
easier to vote.
The law also makes it a crime to give food and water to people queuing to vote.
"Instead
of celebrating the rights of all Georgians to vote or winning campaigns
on the merits of their ideas, Republicans in the state instead rushed
through an un-American law to deny people the right to vote," Mr Biden's
statement continued.
"This
law, like so many others being pursued by Republicans in statehouses
across the country is a blatant attack on the Constitution and good
conscience."
Why Georgia?
Former
president Donald Trump repeatedly pressured elected officials in
Georgia to investigate his unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election
had been stolen from him.
Then in January, Democrats took control of the US Senate when Georgia Republicans lost two run-off races.
Despite those Democratic wins, the state's government is controlled by the Republicans.
Republicans
introduced the Election Integrity Act of 2021, and it passed in both
chambers of the state's Republican-controlled legislature within the
space of a few hours on Thursday.
It
makes Georgia the first presidential battleground state and the second
overall to pass laws that restrict ballot access in the aftermath of the
2020 election.
media captionGeorgia lawmaker Park Cannon arrested as governor signs voting law
Earlier on Friday, a Democratic state lawmaker was arrested and charged while protesting against the bill.
Park
Cannon was handcuffed and removed from the state capitol for banging on
Governor Brian Kemp's office door as he signed the bill.
According
to her arrest warrant, Ms Cannon "knowingly and intentionally" kept
knocking on the door despite repeated warnings, and stomped on her
apprehending officer's foot with her heels.
In
a statement on Facebook, the lawmaker said she "will not stand by while
our voting rights are threatened" and pledged to "continue this fight".
Ms Cannon is among those who have slammed the measures in Georgia as "Jim Crow in new clothes".
Republicans say the new voting laws are "common sense".
It adds new ID requirements for requesting mail-in ballots, replacing the current system which simply requires a signature.
Republicans
say this will instil greater confidence in election integrity, but
Democrats say it will now be harder for working class people - who may
not have an ID - to cast a ballot.
It expands early voting access in most counties.
A
previous version of the bill that curbed weekend voting prompted an
outcry, with Democrats arguing it targeted the Sunday voting drives held
by black churches.
It gives the state legislature greater power over the state election board.
Democrats say the move would allow votes in certain counties to be thrown out, which Mr Trump advocated for after his loss.
It bans the practice of giving food or water to voters in line.
The
Republican bill labels it a method of soliciting votes, but several
media reports suggest that voters, particularly in majority black parts
of the state, have often had to wait in line for hours.
It shortens the period for runoff elections.
It
will go from nine weeks to four weeks - shortening the time for early
and mail in voting. Democrats say that is in an attempt to suppress
votes after an energised voter base in Georgia sent two Democrats to the
US Senate this year. Republicans say it will more fairly reflect
voters' beliefs at the time of the initial vote.
media captionAre US voters being suppressed in Georgia?
The first fight in a national battle
Georgia is among the first states to pass some form of overhaul to voting rules, with Iowa being the first earlier this month.
But
it won't be the last. There are currently 253 similar bills in 43
states, according to the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice think
tank.
That's
because, while Democrats currently hold slim majorities in both
chambers of the US Congress, Republicans dominate statehouses across the
country.
Data
from the National Conference of State Legislatures shows Republicans
have legislative control in 30 states and unified control - including
the governorship - in 23 states, far more than Democrats.
Unified
control means that what happened in Georgia - where a law quickly
passes both chambers and gets signed by the governor - can easily be
replicated.
image captionFrance's vaccine rollout - along with the rest of the EU - is lagging behind the UK's
France
has accused the UK of "blackmail" over its handling of coronavirus
vaccine exports, amid continuing tensions over supply chains.
Foreign
Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was asked whether the EU had been "scammed"
by sending millions of doses to the UK while its own rollout stuttered.
"We need to build a co-operative relationship," he told France Info radio. "But we cannot deal this way."
France has called for the EU to implement tougher export controls.
Vaccine
rollouts have started sluggishly across the bloc, and the EU has blamed
pharmaceutical companies - primarily AstraZeneca - for not delivering
its promised doses. AstraZeneca has denied that it is failing to honour
its contract.
The
EU is expecting to receive about 30 million AstraZeneca doses by the
end of March, less than a third of what it was hoping for.
The UK's vaccination drive, meanwhile, has so far been more successful than that of the EU's 27 member states.
On
Thursday, following a virtual summit where EU leaders discussed vaccine
supplies, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the
bloc was the "region that exports most vaccines worldwide" and invited
other countries to "match our openness".
She also said AstraZeneca must "catch up" on its deliveries to the EU before exporting doses elsewhere.
What has France said?
On Friday, Mr Le Drian said the EU "shouldn't be paying the price" for the UK's vaccination policy.
He also criticised its approach to purchasing jabs, claiming the UK would struggle to source and supply second shots.
"The
United Kingdom has taken great pride in vaccinating well with the first
dose except they have a problem with the second dose," he said.
"One can't play with blackmail," he added. "You can't be playing like this."
The
foreign minister did not specify what he considered to be blackmail,
but earlier this week UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that strict
EU export controls could negatively hit investment in member states.
"I
would just gently point out to anybody considering a blockade... that
companies may look at such actions and draw conclusions about whether or
not it is sensible to make future investments," he said.
image copyrightReuters
image captionFrench Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also said a UK-EU vaccine war would be "astonishing"
Mr Le Drian is not the only senior French figure to have called for tighter controls on doses sent from the EU.
President
Emmanuel Macron told reporters on Thursday that the virtual summit
marked "the end of naivety" from the bloc. "I support the fact that we
must block all exports for as long as some drug companies don't respect
their commitments," he said.
EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, meanwhile, singled out AstraZeneca for criticism.
"AstraZeneca
has been an issue," he said. "I just remind you that we were expecting
to have 120 million doses... and finally we got 30 million. So we had a
problem with this company."
But
they stopped short of a banning exports altogether, and a a post-summit
statement emphasised the importance of maintaining the global supply
chains needed to produce vaccines.
President
Ursula von der Leyen, however, voiced frustration at AstraZeneca and
threatened to block exports from the UK-Swedish company until it
delivered its promised doses to the EU.
"The
company has to catch up, [it] has to honour the contract it has with
European member states, before it can engage again in exporting
vaccines," she said.
Elements of the AstraZeneca vaccination are manufactured in a number of EU states.
media captionOne Austrian MEP tells the BBC that export bans should be considered
Dutch
Prime Minister Mark Rutte said while his fellow leaders had found the
Commission's tougher export measures "acceptable", he hoped they would
never be used - a message echoed by his Belgian counterpart, Alexander
De Croo.
Member
states also agreed to try and ramp up the production of vaccines within
the bloc. They called on manufacturers to "ensure predictability of
their vaccine production and respect contractual delivery deadlines".
How bad is coronavirus in Europe?
A third wave of infections is sweeping across much of mainland Europe.
EU
states have seen some of the deadliest outbreaks of the pandemic, with
Italy recording more than 106,000 deaths, France 93,000, Germany 75,000
and Spain 73,000.
Yet
recent figures show just 12.9 doses of vaccine have been administered
per 100 people in the EU compared with 44.7 in the UK and 37.2 in the
US.
Also
on Friday, Europe's medicines regulator approved three factories for
the production of coronavirus vaccines. A site in the Netherlands was
cleared to produce the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, while a German factory
was given the go-ahead to make Pfizer/BioNTech doses.
A manufacturing site for the Moderna jab in Switzerland was also approved.
Speaking
earlier this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the British
variant had become the dominant strain circulating in Germany and
amounted to "a new pandemic".
"The situation is serious," she said. "Case numbers are rising exponentially and intensive care beds are filling up again."
image captionSpain has resumed use of the AstraZeneca vaccine
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended the EU's decision to procure
coronavirus vaccines jointly as the bloc struggles with delays in
rollout.
EU
leaders are to hold virtual talks shortly to discuss ways of boosting
vaccine supplies and improving distribution across the 27 nations.
Pressure is mounting upon them to deliver after other countries, like the UK, achieved much faster vaccination.
The European Commission is seeking added controls on vaccine exports.
Such controls could affect supply to the UK, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned against imposing "blockades".
The virtual summit comes as a third wave of coronavirus infections sweeps across much of mainland Europe.
EU
states have seen some of the deadliest outbreaks of the pandemic, with
Italy recording more than 106,000 deaths, France 93,000, Germany 75,000
and Spain 73,000.
Yet
recent figures show just 12.9 doses of vaccine have been administered
per 100 people in the EU compared with 44.7 in the UK and 37.2 in the
US.
The
European Commission has blamed pharmaceutical companies - primarily
AstraZeneca - for not delivering the promised doses to the EU.
A
site in Belgium produces the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, and another in
the Netherlands is expected to increase supplies of the jab in the EU.
Brussels
has said that of the more than 40 million doses exported from the EU
over the past two months, a quarter were sent to the UK.
The UK and the EU said on Wednesday they wanted to "create a win-win situation and expand vaccine supply for all".
What did Merkel say?
Speaking
to German MPs, the German chancellor said that if some members had had
vaccine supplies and other had not, it would have shaken the EU's
internal market to its core.
But
some EU states, led by Austria, are calling for a revision in the
distribution method after failing to obtain enough doses earlier this
year.
"We
are in a situation where some member states will have vaccinated their
population by the beginning or middle of May while for others, it will
take six, eight or ten weeks longer," Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz
said last week. "We believe that's a problem."
Mrs Merkel warned that the impact of the pandemic could go beyond the current year.
"We
have to assume that the virus, with its mutations, may be occupying us
for a long time to come so the question goes far beyond this year," she
said.
The
EU, she said, relied on what vaccines it could make locally because
"British production sites are manufacturing for Britain and the United
States is not exporting".
At
the same time, more had to be done to ensure the rest of the world was
supplied with vaccines, since otherwise new mutations would keep
emerging, Mrs Merkel said.
EU
leaders had planned to meet face to face in Brussels but a third wave
of the pandemic is sweeping across much of mainland Europe. So, a summit
by video-conference was deemed safer.
EU
politicians are under increasing public pressure. Many voters blame
their governments and Brussels for a vaccine rollout that lags far
behind the UK.
The European Commission blames pharmaceutical companies - primarily AstraZeneca - for not delivering jabs promised to the EU.
But
leaders are divided over proposals for new restrictions on vaccine
exports out of the bloc to boost domestic supply. Some fear that would
disrupt global supply chains needed to manufacture vaccines and damage
already strained relations with the UK after Brexit.
While
there have been suggestions that the proposals being put before EU
leaders on Thursday will be focused on the UK and US in particular, EU
Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said that this was not the case.
"We're dealing with a pandemic and this is not seeking to punish any
countries," he said.
What is the EU planning?
The
tougher export controls are most likely to affect vaccine-exporting
countries that have higher vaccination rates than the EU, such as the UK
and US.
The key criteria for the proposed regulations are "reciprocity" and "proportionality":
The
EU says there is no reciprocity if a country importing vaccines from
the EU restricts exports itself - so it may review exports to this
country
Member states and the Commission will also consider the
state of the pandemic in that country, its vaccination rate and vaccine
supplies
There will be no outright export bans, which are opposed by countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium.
Vaccine
manufacturers would be assessed to see if they were fulfilling their
contract with the EU, although no specific algorithm is planned.
In
an interview with the BBC, the EU's Internal Market Commissioner
Thierry Breton insisted the bloc's issues were with AstraZeneca and not
the UK government. "I know that there's some tension... but as long as
we have transparency, I think [relations] will be able to be
normalised," he said.
media captionInternal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton says the EU has been "heavily penalised" and wants to know why
But
he said that if AstraZeneca had provided the agreed 120 million doses
to the EU, member states would have been at the same rate of vaccination
as the UK: "We have been heavily penalised and we just want to
understand why."
AstraZeneca denies that it is failing to honour its contract with the EU.
image captionH&M is facing backlash in China over its refusal to use Xinjiang cotton
Retail
giants Nike and H&M are facing a backlash in China after they
expressed concern about the alleged use of forced Uighur labour in the
production of Xinjiang cotton.
Many Chinese have called for boycotts, celebrities have cut ties, and e-commerce platforms have dropped H&M.
The
statements in question were made by the companies last year, but only
resurfaced in recent days following the announcement of Western
sanctions.
Both
companies had said in separate statements that they were "concerned"
about reports that Uighurs were being forced to pick cotton in Xinjiang,
and that they did not source products from the region.
But
the latest furore appears to have been sparked by a recent social media
post by the Communist Youth League, a Chinese Communist Party group.
"Spreading
rumours to boycott Xinjiang cotton, while also wanting to make money in
China? Wishful thinking!" it said on microblogging platform Weibo on
Wednesday morning, as it shared screenshots of H&M's statement.
State media outlets have since launched campaigns defending Xinjiang cotton and criticising the brands.
Chinese
state media CGTN shared a video on Weibo claiming to show the reality
of cotton-picking in Xinjiang, which involved automation and quotes from
a Uighur farmer saying that people "fought" to work there for high
earnings.
State
broadcaster CCTV said that H&M had "miscalculated" in trying to be a
"righteous hero", and that it "must pay a heavy price for its wrong
actions".
H&M
China has not yet responded to queries from the BBC, but the company
posted a statement on Weibo on Wednesday saying that it "respects
Chinese consumers as always" and that it "does not represent any
political position".
image copyrightPeople's Daily
image captionPeople's Daily shared an image with the hashtag 'I support Xinjiang cotton' in Chinese
By
Wednesday night, at least three major Chinese e-commerce platforms -
Pinduoduo, JD.com and Tmall - have withdrawn H&M products from
sale, reports said.
Various
celebrities such as Wang Yibo, Huang Xuan and Victoria Song released
statements that they were severing ties with the brands, with one noting
that "the country's interests are above all".
Social
media has seen a huge wave of backlash against both companies, with
numerous calls for people to boycott their products. The hashtag "I
support Xinjiang cotton" is now the top trending topic on Weibo with
more than 1.8bn views.
Hennes
& Mauritz has a long relationship with China, which is important to
both sides. China is one of H&M's main sources of supply and it is a
big market too.
But
calling out China on what it regards as a core domestic issue is
something Beijing doesn't like. Just ask South Korea or the Philippines,
whose shop chains and fruit exports both suffered after diplomatic
spats.
China
likes to use its trading might and retail nationalism to pressure
governments and multinationals - both at the same time preferably - to
keep them quiet about its abuses.
The
timing of this sudden "grassroots" reaction, led by celebrities who've
been happy to take H&M money in exchange for endorsement, is down to
a wave of coordinated sanctions imposed by the UK, US and EU in the
last few days - endorsed by Sweden among others.
What is Xinjiang and who are the Uighurs?
Xinjiang,
China's biggest region, produces about a fifth of the world's cotton.
An autonomous region in theory, in reality it faces restrictions which
have only increased in recent years
Millions of China's Uighurs,
a Muslim minority that sees itself as culturally and ethnically close
to Central Asian nations, live in Xinjiang
In recent decades,
mass migration of Han Chinese (China's ethnic majority) to Xinjiang has
fuelled tensions with Uighurs which has at points flared into deadly
violence
This has resulted in a massive security crackdown and
an extensive state surveillance programme, which critics say violate
Uighur human rights. China says such measures are necessary to combat
separatism and terrorism
image copyrightEPA
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